Decanter - January 10, 2008
Oliver Styles
A French court has ruled that newspaper articles on wines should be subject to the same health and safety guidelines as alcohol advertising and display health warnings.
A Paris county court ruled that an editorial piece in Le Parisien newspaper entitled 'the triumph of Champagne' could be constituted as advertising even if page space had not been sold.
The piece was published in the run-up to Christmas in 2005 and focused on major Champagne houses. It contained recommendations, stockist and price details, and profiles of marques. Its headlines included 'Good and inexpensive', 'Champagne, the incontestable star of the party', and 'Four dream bottles'.
The court said that the article was 'intended to promote sales of alcoholic beverages in excersising a psychological effect on the reader that incited him or her to buy alcohol'.
'Any communication in favour of an alcoholic drink, such as a series of articles in favour of Champagne, constitutes advertising and is therefore subject to the public health code,' said a spokesperson for the National Association for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Addiction (ANPAA).
The decision has stunned many journalists.
'It's absolutely extraordinary,' said Dominic Ponsford, editor of UK-based industry journal, the Press Gazette. 'The central tenet of journalism in a western democracy is that journalists can publish the truth as they see it without the interference of the government or an outside body, within the boundaries of libel and copyright.'
The court said that the article should have come with the health and safety disclaimer seen on all alcohol adverts in France: 'Alcohol abuse is dangerous to your health'.
Although the paper argued that its report was a 'purely editorial' piece, it was ordered to pay €5,000 (£3,750) in damages to the ANPAA, which bought the case to court.
- The International Federation of Wine & Spirits Journalists and Writers has created a petition against the ruling here (in French)
_____________
Have your say...
To post your comment on this story, email us at [email protected], making sure the relevant headline is in the subject field 
Sometimes French justice seems not blind but drunk.
Remember the infamous 'vin de merde' case? In 2003, a Villefranche-sur-Saône court threatened to bankrupt Lyon Mag by ordering it to pay a $346,900 fine for libeling Beaujolais producers in an article that quoted an expert as saying they consciously commercialized 'vin de merde' (crappy wine).
Free-speech advocates in the international media made hash ofthat decision, and sanity was restored when a French appeals court reversed the decision, finding that the public interest in free speech came first.
Perhaps a French court, aware of recently divorced Nicolas Sarkozy's potential marriage to model-turned-singer Carla Bruni, should require all published commentary favoring the arrangement to carry a medical warning that, as every mature adult knows, marriage can be dangerous to your mental health.
Why stop there? A favorable review of Molière's 'Tartuffe,' taking a cue from medical lore, should remind readers that laughter promotes good digestion.
Courts should hold that articles praising politicians must caution that officeholders can cause apoplexy.
As for safety and health concerns, all car advertisements should warn the public that any Frenchmen who willingly drive south in August will first be required to have their heads examined.
Howard G Goldberg, New York City, USA Will this ruling apply to scientific papers on the health benefits of wine? Where will this kind of heavy-handed censorship, headed up by the Muslim neo-prohibitionists in France end? When governments anywhere start interfering with journalism, you usually see a Democracy in decline. Thank goodness Sarkazy has the courage to take on these issues. His next step should be to identify and drum out the neo-prohibitionists in their public health system. They are determined to destroy the beautiful French culture of food and wine.
Elliott Mackey, Publisher of The science of healthy drinking Articles about wine aren't necessarily advocating about wine, but merely reporting on it, or taking it to task. What a complete joke. The French, who should know better, have done it again.
Alan Goldfarb, Napa Valley, CA, USA I absolutely agreed with Howard G. Goldberg from New York City, USA. The French law is Crazy. The French wine business is now behind the rest of the world. Thanks to stupid law!
James Thanasutha, Bangkok, Thailand Utterly sacandalous!
Amazing how wine frightens the good thinkers...
Most french speaking wine journalists have started to protest, mainly onwww.mesopinions.com. Hope winelovers from all over the planet wil join us !
Michel White-Smith, Perpignan, France As much as we may appreciate the dynamic Mr. Sarkozy here in France, I am somewhat skeptical as to the likelihood that he might step into the current fray: let's not forget that he is an avid teetotaler! Furthermore, it is while he was a minister under the thankfully departed President Jacques Chirac that the blood alcohol level for drivers was lowered from 0.8 to 0.5. Now, it appears very likely that under President Sarkozy, that level will be lowered to 0.0 later this year! Now, THAT should prove to be a real boon for the French restaurant and wine and spirits sectors . . .
Let's not forget either that the French government warnings in ads for wine and spirits were first put into place by a minister whose name is, ironically, Evin. His name pronounced in French sounds like, "And wine!" Here, here.
All of these measures have had a catastrophic effect on French restaurants outside the capital (where public transportation and taxis are widely available) and have cost tens of thousands of working Frenchmen their driver's licenses and sometimes their jobs since they can no longer get to them or perform them without driving a vehicle. This has also led to thousands of Frenchmen driving without licenses and hence without insurance.
The Malthusian question one must raise is whether the estimated 2,400 lives* saved annually since these measures were put into effect are worth all the other socio-economic side effects.
Jeffrey M. Davies, Gérant, Signature SelectionS, Bordeaux, France Don't tell Gordon. I really can't wait for 50% of Decanter's cover to be obscured by a white box exclaiming "DRINKING KILLS".
D Crossley, Brighton, UK I would have no objection to Robert Parker being made to wear a sandwich board around his neck with a health warning every time he thinks fit to tell us what wine we should drink!
David Gibbons, Sydney, Australia And presumeably readers of car tests will be required to wear seat belts and have air bags installed at their desks
Philip Styles, Civray, France I would respectfully disagree with Mr. Gibbons remark: Mr. Parker tells us what HE likes, NOT what we should drink. That choice is entirely ours.
Jeffrey M. Davies, Signature SelectionS, Bordeaux Jeffrey Davies makes a number of valid points. But it's not 'all these measures' that have cost tens of thousands of working Frenchmen their drivers' licenses. The drivers have lost their licences for being over the limit. By their actions, they have played into the hands of the anti-alcohol lobby. Whatever you think of the Loi Évin, and the ridiculous way it has been interpreted, responsibility is a condition of freedom and if we can't act responsibly enough not to drink and drive, is it that unreasonable to expect the anti-alcohol lobby not to holler and the nanny state not to intervene?
Anthony Rose, London, UK
Recent Comments