FRENCH TV WINS PYRRHIC VICTORY

J'Accuse! No Justice in France (NYSun)
"Broadcaster France 2 won a libel case on Thursday over accusations it faked a report into the killing of a Palestinian boy whose death in 2000 became a symbol of the uprising known as the second intifada," Reuters reports.

The Court of First Instance in Paris ordered Philippe Karsenty, director of Media Ratings, a website that comments on the media, to pay France 2 and its Israel correspondent Charles Enderlin symbolic damages of one euro ($1.25) each.

"Hopefully this decision will end a campaign of defamation that is particularly dangerous because it affects those with a duty to inform the public," Benedicte Amblard, lawyer for France 2, told reporters after the ruling. The public sector station had said the case was a matter of principle and it had sought no more than symbolic damages.

Karsenty, who was also fined 1,000 euros and told to pay legal costs of 3,000 euros, said he would appeal the decision. "It is a very somber day for France. The French justice system has validated a false report," he told reporters after the decision. "We are going to appeal straight away. It is a very surprising judgment."

Media Ratings accused France 2 of using staged footage in a report into the death of 12 year-old Mohammed al-Durra on September 30, 2000 and demanded the sacking of the station's head of news as well as Enderlin.

See: FRENCH TV'S BLOOD LIBEL AGAINST ISRAEL