France's Nicolas Sarkozy is not known for his self-control, but calling journalists paedophiles is, arguably, a new low.
The comments, reported by the magazine L'Express on Monday, were an apparent attempt at irony by the French president, in response to a journalist who had asked about his role in allegedly overseeing illegal kickbacks in the Karachi affair. He was criticising the media's use of secret sources and what he sees as a willingness to report on political scandals without proper verification:
"You're a paedophile, I'm deeply convinced of it, I've seen the secret services but I won't say which ones, I saw someone but I won't say who it is, and it was verbal. But I'm deeply convinced you're a paedophile!"
After the briefing, the Elysée tried to insist the comments were off-the-record, no doubt realising that the joke could be understood in a different light by journalists.
Given a string of suspicious burglaries targeting French reporters working on politically-loaded investigations, not to mention allegations that Sarkozy has personally given the order for journalists to be spied upon, his comic timing could be considered a little off.
The most recent robbery was on Saturday night, at the offices of the leftwing Rue89 news website in Paris. Whether or not the theft of around 20 computers is linked to three other burglaries involving media organisations is not yet clear.
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