The Podcast Shaking Up French Politics

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DECEMBER 27, 2005 NEWS ANALYSIS

By Carol Matlack

The Podcast Shaking Up French Politics

Interior Minister -- and would-be President -- Nicolas Sarkozy has created a sensation in cyberspace. Expect more pols to follow Nicolas Sarkozy, the law-and-order Interior Minister who wants to be France's next President, rarely passes up a chance to speak before an audience. So when Loc Le Meur, one of the country's most widely read bloggers, proposed doing a podcast interview with Sarkozy, the answer was mais, oui. The Dec. 22 interview has created a sensation in the French blogosophere. It has attracted more than 50,000 views on Le Meur's blog, www.loiclemeur.com, and has been picked up by scores of other French blogs. Although the podcast is in French, Le Meur has an English-language version of his blog that summarizes the interview. Not only is it the first-ever podcast by a French political leader, it also marks a startling break with customary etiquette, as Sarkozy and Le Meur address each other with the familiar "tu" rather than "vous" during their 30-minute meeting. "Bravo!" read many of the hundreds of viewer commentaries posted on Le Meur's blog over the past few days. Many are heralding the interview as a watershed event, showing that French politicians can no longer afford to ignore the growing importance of nontraditional media (see BW, 7/11/05, "Let them Eat Cake -- and Blog About It").
"FOR MY OWN ENJOYMENT." Still, the interview in the Interior Ministry's elegantly appointed drawing room didn't generate any headline news. Le Meur and Sarkozy chatted amiably about the Internet and podcasting, and Sarkozy described how, as head of the ruling UMP party, he has used e-mail appeals to boost party membership. On a more controversial subject, Sarkozy defended his handling of the recent rioting in French suburbs. But his comments closely tracked what he has said in other recent newspaper and TV interviews.

Le Meur says some journalists have criticized him for going too easy on Sarkozy. But he says, "I didn't want to be confrontational. I did this mainly for my own enjoyment, and to learn more myself." Moreover, Le Meur counters that many French journalists have lost objectivity in their coverage of Sarkozy. A recent interview with Sarkozy in the left-wing newspaper Libration, for example, included the question, "Weren't you ashamed of the way you responded to the riots?" If the podcast interview was a coup for Le Meur, it also could boost Sarkozy's presidential ambitions. A poll by the Ipsos survey group taken in mid-December, a month after the rioting ended, showed Sarkozy's approval rating had dipped 8%, to 53%. Although that still puts him ahead of other potential presidential candidates, including Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, the poll showed a steep 18% decline in Sarkozy's support among young voters. Sarkozy's critics, including celebrities such as rapper Joey Starr and filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz, who are popular among young French people, have said the Interior Minister's harsh rhetoric and policing methods were partly to blame for the riots.
"I AM GOOD ADVERTISING." Now, Sarkozy is mounting a counteroffensive among French bloggers, who are mainly

25-years-and-under. He recently posted a sharp retort on Kassovitz' blog after the filmmaker called him a "little Napoleon." Sarkozy told Kassovitz that his remarks were "caricaturist" and invited the director to engage in "debate and exchange." In the Le Meur interview, Sarkozy said some celebrities had attacked him "because I am good advertising for them, they all have a film or a CD to sell." Le Meur says he has no ambition to become a journalist or political commentator. But he has already been contacted by other presidential hopefuls who are interested in setting up interviews. Certainly, there are no technical hurdles. The Sarkozy podcast is crisp and clear, thanks to three friends of Le Meur's, all amateur podcasters, who came along with him to the interview to handle the audio and video. If this keeps up, Le Meur's blog could soon become a must-read for France's political elite.
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Matlack is BusinessWeek's Paris bureau chief

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