'Oyster munchers': French press slammed over Hollande silence
British press incredulous at French media's failure to press president on his 'affair' with Julie Gayet
FRANCOIS HOLLANDE said next to nothing about his reported affair with French actress Julie Gayet yesterday. During a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, the French president spoke at length about economics, but batted away a few timid questions from journalists about his love life. Here's what the British press made of "Frisky Francois" and his tame inquisitors.
Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail: Hollande is "France's most unlikely swordsman since Inspector Clouseau", writes Letts, and he was let off the hook in spectacular fashion by a French press that had been "sluiced and juiced in surroundings as opulent as Versailles". Letts describes France's most senior journalists as "a salon of oyster munchers, the powdered, poodling, truth-smothering trusties of polite Parisian opinion". They are "aghast" that the public might learn the truth about the president, he writes. No wonder "they never tell their people the truth about the European Commission".
Michael Deacon in the Daily Telegraph: "If François Hollande treats his women the way he treats his press conferences, I feel rather sorry for them," writes Deacon. The president "goes for hours", but appears to be the only one who gets anything out of it. On the subject of the French media's apparent lack of interest in Hollande's sex life, Deacon writes: "It seems we have got the French all wrong. For centuries we had mockingly stereotyped the French as sex-mad. When, in reality, these spotlessly abstemious souls have so little interest in sex that when their own head of state is caught up in the juiciest scandal to hit politics since Clinton-Lewinsky, they only want to ask about social security."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Jon Henley in The Guardian: Would Hollande have managed to avoid questions about Gayet if he was a senior politician in Britain or America, asks Henley? "Possibly not. But, outraged tweets by Anglo-Saxon hacks notwithstanding, this was France."
Peter Brookes in The Times: The Times left it to its cartoonist to ridicule Hollande's press conference. His cartoon pays homage to Eugene Delacroix's famous painting Liberty Leading the People, by squeezing the French leader between Liberty's ample breasts. "I want to talk to you about the economy..." says the cartoon Hollande.
The Sun: The tabloid described Hollande's appearance as "the dullest hour of anyone's life". It added that the president's insistence on privacy was a technique "used by elites worldwide since the dawn of democracy" to "let them be seen as they want to be seen - not as they are".
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Has the Taliban banned women from speaking?
Today's Big Question 'Rambling' message about 'bizarre' restriction joins series of recent decrees that amount to silencing of Afghanistan's women
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Cuba's energy crisis
The Explainer Already beset by a host of issues, the island nation is struggling with nationwide blackouts
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
Putin's fixation with shamans
Under the Radar Secretive Russian leader, said to be fascinated with occult and pagan rituals, allegedly asked for blessing over nuclear weapons
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Chimpanzees are dying of human diseases
Under the radar Great apes are vulnerable to human pathogens thanks to genetic similarity, increased contact and no immunity
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies hang over Sydney's Mardi Gras
The Explainer Police officer, the former partner of TV presenter victim, charged with two counts of murder after turning himself in
By Austin Chen, The Week UK Published
-
Quiz of The Week: 24 February - 1 March
Puzzles and Quizzes Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Will mounting discontent affect Iran election?
Today's Big Question Low turnout is expected in poll seen as crucial test for Tehran's leadership
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Sweden clears final NATO hurdle with Hungary vote
Speed Read Hungary's parliament overwhelmingly approved Sweden's accession to NATO
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published