We dont really trust the internet

A survey (admittedly carried out for a national newspaper) shows that most French people distrust the internet as a reliable news source. Apparently young people are more likely to be sceptical, and almost half of over 65s had no opinion.
Radio is thought to be the most reliable, followed by printed media and TV. Overall nearly 75% of readers thought the French newspapers covered the Macron presidential election fairly. Conversely there is less trust in journalists than in the media. Of course thinking a report or outlet is "unbiased" is rather coloured by our tendency to choose the media that agrees with our point of view - Le Figaro if you are right leaning, Le Monde if you prefer left (substitute Telegraph and Guardian for British readers).
Sadly the social media such as Facebook and Twitter have become so tainted with "fake news" and totally biased reporting that a very large dose of salt should be taken with stories "shared" by followers and a majority of French users prefer the items posted by mainstream news providers.
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Local TV news to cease

Readers who regularly watch the local news bulletins on France 3 (generally 19.20 in the evening) with Tarn and Quercy-Rouergue editions may be losing these bulletins from next year. France TV says it will integrate the news into the regional bulletins (Occitanie Midi Pyrenees) and on-line. We UK expats regularly watch BBC local editions and it is noticeable how much more there is of local news, weather and traffic info than on the French equivalents. And the quality of the programmes is infinitely better, presumably because the BBC and ITV spend much more of their budgets on local programming.
Taglines picks a lot of its local stories from France 3 and we will be sorry to lose the rather endearing amateurishness of France 3 Tarn news. Perhaps more local broadcasting should be considered; we in T&G rely on Tarn or Quercy-Rouergue, neither being ideal.
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Freedom of the press

The cover of the Moroccan magazine depicting Francois Hollande as Hitler could fall foul of the law in Morocco. There it is illegal to insult foreign heads of state or foreign ministers. The editor thinks it "unfair" that French journalists could insult the Prophet Mahomet without censure (leaving aside being murdered) when he could be fined 10000 euros for insulting Hollande. A bit of double think here - does he want freedom of the press in Morocco or restrictions in France?
A reader did ask us what the Arabic text on the cover meant (the story was reported on TAG below) and apparently it read "is France going to do to Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews?" Again a very distorted view of what are (sadly) routine acts of aggression against Muslims by French racists if it they can be compared to Nazi atrocities.
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Local newspapers to unite

Jean Michel Baylet is the president of the departmental conseil general of Tarn and Garonne, leader of the Parti Radical de Gauche (a social democrat party to which our local MP Sylvia Pinel belongs) and is also the principal shareholder in the Depeche du Midi group.
He announced yesterday that the group is to buy control of the Midi Libre group. This group of newspapers is widely read in Languedoc and Aveyron and presumably the new group will be better placed to deal with the new amalgamated region Midi Pyrenees/Languedoc Roussillon.
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