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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;There is a&amp;nbsp;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;going on in &lt;st1:place w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;&lt;st1:country-region w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;France&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Last year, journalist Charles Enderlin and government-owned television broadcaster &lt;st1:place w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;&lt;st1:country-region w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;France&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;&lt;/st1:place&gt; 2 won a libel suit against media watchdog Philippe Karsenty, who had accused the plaintiffs of fraudulent reporting.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Obviously, this is not the forum for rehashing any of the talking points on either side of Israeli-Palestinian affairs.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But it can be stipulated that the case hinges on whether France 2 and Enderlin accurately reported the tragic death of a 12 year old boy at the hands of the IDF, or were dupes for a sinister piece of agitprop.&amp;nbsp; There isn&amp;#8217;t any way to reconcile the positions of Enderlin and Karsenty; they are mutually exclusive.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The case recalls the Dreyfus Affair, with cameos by&amp;nbsp; Rosemary Woods and Dan Rather&amp;#8217;s fugazi memos.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;I first heard of Mohammed al-Dura from an Egyptian taxi driver, when I asked about the picture wedged in his sun visor. &amp;nbsp; That now-iconic image is a still shot from the video footage now at issue in the Karsenty case. That cab ride was during the fall of 2000, as the Second Intifada was just taking off.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;A couple of years later, I read the James Fallows &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200306/fallows&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;investigative piece&lt;/a&gt; in the &lt;st1:place w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;Atlantic&lt;/st1:place&gt;, and&amp;nbsp; figured that was probably the last word.&amp;nbsp; So it was surprising&amp;#8212;in light of the case made by Fallows&amp;#8212;to find that Karsenty was being sued by Enderlin and &lt;st1:country-region w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;&lt;st1:place w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;France&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt; 2 and not the other way around.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;My surprise stemmed from ignorance of French defamation law.&amp;nbsp; Basically, it is easy to win a libel suit in &lt;st1:country-region w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;&lt;st1:place w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;France&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;. About all the plaintiff needs to do is to show that he was defamed (&amp;#8220;any allegation or imputation of an act affecting the honor or reputation&amp;#8221;). Truth is a defense, but there is a catch: the burden of proof falls on the &lt;em&gt;defendant&lt;/em&gt;. It&#39;s up to the defendant to &lt;em&gt;prove&lt;/em&gt; to a panel of judges that the statement was true. (Good primer on French defamation law here, beginning on p.13)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;In the &lt;st1:country-region w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;&lt;st1:place w:st=&quot;on&quot;&gt;US&lt;/st1:place&gt;&lt;/st1:country-region&gt;, the burden of proof for defamation of public figures such as Enderlin is entirely on the plaintiff, who must prove&lt;br&gt;the defendant was deliberately lying or showed &quot;reckless disregard&quot; for the truth.&amp;nbsp; By contrast, French law places the burden of proof in defending against a libel suit extraordinarily high. If &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Enderlin filed a similar suit in a US Court&amp;#8212;against Fallows, for instance&amp;#8212;not only would he lose, almost certainly the case would be promptly dismissed for failure to state a cause of action, and his attorney might well be sanctioned.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;[Anyway, a technical aspect of French law is hardly the most &amp;#8216;fascinating&amp;#8217;&lt;br&gt;tidbit of the case.&amp;nbsp; My nominee: Deus ex Jacques? I highly recommend reading further.]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; -posted by brian&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;

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