New French law says that only professional journalists can film or broadcast acts of violence

France Bans Laypeople From Reporting Violence
New French law says that only professional journalists can film or broadcast acts of violence.
Peter Sayer, IDG News Service
Tuesday, March 06, 2007 08:00 AM GMT-08:00

The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The law could lead to the imprisonment of eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence, or operators of Web sites publishing the images, one French civil liberties group warned on Tuesday.

The council chose an unfortunate anniversary to publish its decision approving the law, which came exactly 16 years after Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King were filmed by amateur videographer George Holliday in the night of March 3, 1991. The officers' acquittal at the end on April 29, 1992 sparked riots in Los Angeles.

If Holliday were to film a similar scene of violence in France today, he could end up in prison as a result of the new law, said Pascal Cohet, a spokesman for French online civil liberties group Odebi. And anyone publishing such images could face up to five years in prison and a fine of €75,000 (US$98,537), potentially a harsher sentence than that for committing the violent act.

Senators and members of the National Assembly had asked the council to rule on the constitutionality of six articles of the Law relating to the prevention of delinquency. The articles dealt with information sharing by social workers, and reduced sentences for minors. The council recommended one minor change, to reconcile conflicting amendments voted in parliament.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/129631-1/article.html?tk=nl_dnxnws

Like, only real journalists can report and discuss news events.

Of course, there would be a short-term lack of reporters, but eventually enough college grads could fill those slots.

i.e. sarcasm

or what the US is ranked at now?

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1027/dailyUpdate.html

With links to rankings