French politics: Jean, the other Sarkozy

Like others here at Gadling, I just can’t get enough of Nicolas Sarkozy gossip. Last week the French President outdid himself at the Salon d’Agriculture when he swore at a man who refused to shake his hand. Although you probably already know that Sarkozy recently married ex-supermodel Carla Bruni, you may not know the most recent piece of Sarkozy gossip: his son, Jean Sarkozy, is currently running for local office, and he’s only 21.

The oldest of the Sarkozy children, Jean Sarkozy is running in a “canton, ” the smallest administrative division in France, in the Parisian suburb of South Neuilly. Following in his father’s footsteps, Jean Sarkozy is also running under the ruling UMP party.

French politics may bore you, so let’s get down to the fun stuff. Not only was Jean Sarkozy featured on the Most Beautiful Man website for being charged with a hit and run, but I also tracked down his profile on Facebook. Apparently he is well liked by the ladies. If the Sarkozy dynasty wasn’t “celebritized” before, things are only going to get better. Watch out Nicolas, you just might have some friendly family competition for political drama.

Sarkozy asks news channel for 100% French broadcasts

Browsing through a past edition of the Economist, I came across this article about a French news channel that broadcasts in English and Arabic. The channel was recently shocked when President Nicolas Sarkozy stated that he thought it should only broadcast in French.

France 24 is France’s version of Al-Jazeera, a way to communicate a French perspective on news but at the same time keeping it accessible to even those who didn’t get past their high school vocab list of bonjour and merci. Despite France 24’s difficulties in finding distribution channels in the US, the broadcasting company has offered a fresh perspective in comparison to other global news media.

Sarkozy wants the channel to become French only, because he is “not disposed to finance a channel that does not speak French.” Yes Sarko, blame it on the budget. Foreign Minister Bernard Koucher doesn’t agree with his co-worker, much like most of the managers of France 24 who have already committed to lobbying for their trilingual broadcasts. From a country that has its own academy to protect its language, it will be interesting to see where this goes, just make sure not to judge too hard.

One thing is sure: Sarkozy’s choice does seem odd given his pro-American stance, but maybe some people just want to keep things en français.