Sarkozy's eyes on the internet

Nicolas Princen, l'oeil de Nicolas Sarkozy sur Internet

Meet the young man they are calling Monsieur Buzz. Nicolas Princen, aged 24, has just been given a job at the Elysée Palace in which he will monitor the internet to keep tabs on what is being said about President Sarkozy.

In three days, Princen, a graduate of the ENS and HEC, two of the grandest universities, has gone from nobody to a figure of cyber-mockery as the blogosphere has laid into him. He is being called "Sarko's spy", "the Sheriff", "Little Brother", "Cyber-cop" and so on. Three Facebook groups have already assembled around him, one of them called Nicolas Princen est sexy. 

Princen's newly-created job is a response to the damage that Sarko has suffered from stories, parodies and videos that have blazed on the net and then reached the main media. In the past month, the president has been zapped hard by two such items: the notorious "pauvre con" video of his outburst at the farm show and the affair of the text message. We've already been through both here. 

Sarko yesterday dropped the charges against Airy Routier, the Nouvel Observateur reporter who posted the text item claiming that the president tried to get Cécilia, his former wife back, only a week before marrying Carla Bruni on February 2. At the same time, Bruni signed an article in le Monde denouncing le Nouvel Obs for pedalling scurrilous gossip unworthy of "real journalism" [my story here]

The Elysée says there is nothing sinister in Princen's appointment. The president's staff is just catching up with the new media. "He will be a sort of monitor of the internet, watching everything that is making a buzz about the President," the Elysée explained. "He will be keeping under surveillance... less-known sites, blogs etc. Everything that is moving on the net. [The presidency was breaking a few linguistic rules there (last post), since they said le buzz and le net in French]

The presidency may insist that his only job is to "observe and alert", but the heavily anti-Sarko blogosphere does not like the idea that this clean-cut young man who worked on the president's election campaign last year (video above) will be sniffing them out and reporting them. There are too many sinister precedents in France, from anonymous informing in the wartime occupation to the late President Mitterrand's secret phone surveillance unit at the Elysée in the 1980s. The sarcasm has been flying thick and fast, with bloggers saying they will report themselves to him with RSS feeds and so on. "Turn your pals in... and help your new friend", said one quoted by le Monde this afternoon.

Luc Mandret, who runs a successful site called Ma vie en Narcisse, addressed Princen with the familliar tu, to offer his welcome: "I wish you courage. If you know a minimum about the world of blogs, you must know that there are several thousand blogs in which you will find unpleasant things about Nicolas Sarkozy."

This of course is not one of them. And I would also add a warm bienvenue to our new reader.   

Comments

[qwerty]

So what can they do? They can't "coller un contrôle fiscal" on all adverse bloggers, or tap all their phones (cf. Mitterrand), or sue them all for libel...I hope in particular that they'll appreciate the superior quality of Charles's posts and the articulate and wise comments of his band of bloggers (when they don't start scrapping).

[Daniel Strohl]

"the late President Mitterrand's secret phone surveillance unit"

As Charles points out, this phone surveillance unit was secret. This makes a big difference. And under Mitterrand (at least as long as he was president), very few people were courageous enough to criticise openly and in writing his private life and some other more or less related matters (les "affaires").

What goes me on the nerves are the bloggers who are aggressive (why not?) AND anonymous. If people had to sign with their real name, most of the posts would be much more civilized. Many posters work like the "corbeaux" of WWII in France and elsewhere, with the same "courage"; most of the time, they are of the same envious character types (pourquoi lui et eux et pas moi et nous ?).

PS : "bienvenue to our new reader" (Charles) - this young new reader seems to be rather brainy; being a graduate of both ENS & HEC at 24 is not bad indeed. Another reason to be envious for some bloggers and posters - a part of the latter would most probably not even have got the Certificat d'Etudes ("certif" in argot) 50 years ago, if one judges by their spelling, grammar and syntax skills in their mother tongue (French).

[Terry]

"I wish you courage. If you know a minimum about the world of blogs, you must know that there are several thousand blogs in which you will find unpleasant things about Nicolas Sarkozy."

This of course is not one of them."

Sorry Charlie. I heard he is starting in alphabetical order.

[Daisy]

So he gets paid (how much a year?) to surf the net all day long. For that he went to two universities? Oy vey!

[Matthieu]

Those Sarko-boys look all the same, clean-cut, baby-face and deep faith in Sarkozysm.
Good luck, remember David Martinon.

[Mike E]

I'm sure almost every high profile person, political or otherwise, monitors the web. The question is what they do with the information - take criticism and new ideas on board or hound the bloggers. Let's hope Sarkozy opts for the former.

[christopher muir]

Well, Monsieur Buzz may have scored a terrific job for himself - but I’m not so sure; after all, he will often be the messenger delivering irritating news to an impulsive emperor. Perhaps he will divide the fruits of his nerdy monitorings into several colums. Their headings might be: mockery, travesty, vulgarity, takeoff, tedious, internal leaks and, no doubt, a special corner dedicated to possibly libelous blogs and videos. There will be an upbeat section headed “helpful to us.” Let’s hope that Monsieur Buzz has a sense of humour. He’ll need it.

[dot king]

Surely, once something has appeared on the web and has been seen by possibly millions of people within the first few minutes, you can't "police" it out of existence.
Yes, Daniel, this young man is certainly clever - clever enough to recognise a "money for old rope" job. but as Matthieu says, maybe the rope won't hold very long, but he's launched anyway.
Mr Sarkozy, sir, if you're spying, I know you to be a great admirer and friend of China - take a leaf from their book - they certainly know how to control the web.

[john o'doe]

Try this Nicolas:
The President of the Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, has overcome the handicaps of a broken immigrant home in the tough suburbs, poor diet, sibling rivalry, small stature, playground scraps, romantic disappointments and basic vocabulary to rise to the highest office in this great land. As president he has worked tirelessly and selflessly to bring equal happiness to an affectionate people who have taken his example to heart. They are joined by leaders from around the world in wishing him well in his destiny to become the greatest president this proud country, the whole of Europe and perhaps the world have ever seen.

[Andy]

I think that Mike is spot on. What strikes me though is Sarko's inability to do anything without making a noise about it. Is all publicity good publicity? I think that over the last 6 months or so he has convincingly disproved this maxim.

[Lily]

Monsieur Buzz’ function is far less ridiculous than it may seem to those who mock him.

Sarko seems powerless in his ability to control the web. He cannot significantly restrict internet’s free-flow of thought. His best weapon therefore is to learn what is going on, to get and stay informed on a continuous basis, i.e. his advisors will work on this. I doubt that NP is going to work on his own. His survey duty is likely backed by other communication experts, media advisors - PR people.

If NP begins by cataloguing forums and blogs about France, programming search engines to detect relevant key words, there will be much more KNOWLEDGE of what is going on on the web and in the blogosphere.

This knowledge is more important than whatever some individual blogger is going to say. Media experts can only have an impact on people’s opinions and take measures to change their opinion if they know what they have on their minds. The internet is like an open book.

Opinion polls are always limited to the questions people will be asked. If the poll is good, questions will be the result of some research to begin with. The analysis of free exchanges on the world wide web costs probably less and focuses on what is really going on instead of relying on what pollsters might think is/was/be (??) of public concern.

Monsieur Buzz collects knowledge that is an extremely powerful weapon, and it will have a direct impact on the Elysee Palace’s PR work.

BTW: With a look across the pond, I now bet that McCain will be the next US President. It is my impression that those who are in key positions want him to be president. He is on tour (Middle East, today: in France) for state visits, not as presidential candidate but as senator. Whoever wants to support his campaign financially is welcome to do so. Clinton and Obama will continue to harm one another.

There has been a terror threat by Bin Laden that wasn’t confirmed as authentic after its initial release. It is now spreading in the media as a fact. Should an event follow this threat, the US public (at present 'majoritairement' against the war in Iraq) would probably get convinced of the necessity to continue America’s war on terror that is on McCain’s agenda and as begun under the Bush administration.

[marc millier]

mr Daniel strolh est vraiment obsedé par Mitterrand
il est mort en 1995.
Le nouveau président est nicolas sarkozy.

[Blendi Progri]

Isn’t this another example of the absolute power that French presidents have.

Even the communist dictators were more subtle on publicly declaring ‘who to employ on what’/ How can one justify this, and who pays for it?

If a ‘higher authority’ was to pull Sarko`s ear, it will go like this:
- What’s this guy doing here?
- He just reads what`s been said about ME, his duty is mainly to ‘observe & alert’.
- WHAT?! He does What ?!!! !

You can`t make it up, lol, but we have to hand it to N.S the I-st, at least he is straight and makes no excuses.
They could have said 'the guy' is linking the Presidency to the 'yoof and disposesed' or something like that...' agriculture @ fence jumping' but they didnt want to.

Call it Transparence if you want/

Now that the ‘Whats-been-said-about-me’ overseer is been appointed, it could be the turn of other important vacancies, that of ‘The Gossip Spreader’ and of course that of ‘Rumour Squasher”, working jointly.

A section, simply named ‘Forgotten Hope’ must be close to the Presidency and even an Institute of Exemplary & Repetitive Makeovers must not be a distant dream.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------.

Suddenly John Cleese`s ‘Ministry of Silly Walks’ comes to mind.

[azloon]

[He will be keeping under surveillance......," The Elysee explained]

Ominous choice of words, probably meant to
intimidate, given france's history of wiretapping of the media, and the country's obsession, backed by law, with personal privacy.

personally, if i were NP, i would not tell the emporor he was naked, no matter what i'd discovered on the net.

[Valentin]

Azloon:
"[He will be keeping under surveillance....
Ominous choice of words"

Charles Bremner's words, rather... I suspect a somewhat clumsy translation of the French "veille" (keep up to date) by "surveillance". A link to the source of the original French text would be quite nice of you, Charles. Thank you :)

[Valentin]

Marc Millier:
"mr Daniel strolh est vraiment obsedé par Mitterrand "

It was actually Charles Bremner who mentioned the secret phonetapping by Mitterrand.

All presidential and ministerial cabinets in the world keep an eye on the media, I don't see why blogs should be treated differently.
Finding similarities with anonymous wartime informers is preposterous. Why not forbid spokesmen offices read the newspapers then, or watch the TV, since it amounts to "surveillance".
Presidents get daily press reviews, spokesmen reply to selected opinions and media reports, it is high time Internet becomes a part of it.

[Daniel Strohl]

Jennifer Dawes,

Yes, of course, I know that Hercule Poirot is (very proudly!) Belgian. But he speaks French and looks like some educated Frenchmen from that time.

I think that Agatha Christie made a Belgian out of him in order not to get in trouble with some over-sensitive Frenchmen who might have been "hurt" by the (although gentle) caricature made of some French character "particularities".
However, the word caricature is too strong - in French, I would use the colloquial expression "gentille mise en boite".

I like also the (gentle) "mises en boite" of the British made by Agatha Christie. Caricatures are funny and fine, as long as they do not turn into irony. This is never the case with Agathe Christie.

[dot king]

Daniel, this is for you - a gentle "mise en boîte" evolved from Hercule Poirot
(ps anyone can watch of course)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N507GyZn7LE

[Leopold]

Daniel Strohl.

Right on, and also Poirot does solve all those hare-brained mysteries. Pretty good for a well mannered French speaker.

As for the issue of the day:

Much ado about nothing. Like most of the blogosphere buzz. We should require the inventor of the SPAM filter to try his skills at filtering garbage out of RSS feed readers.

[PJB]

Daniel Strohl, caricature turned into irony becomes satire. Satire provides us with Ben Elton and Spitting Image, Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister and Ricky Gervais in the Office. I mention these for their universal value.

Satire is MT referring to her ministers as vegetables in a restaurant and David Steel 'surging too soon' in David Owen's pocket. It may be rude, it may be unpleasant, it may be hurtful, but the world would be miserable without it.

Caricature is 'Allo 'Allo or Hi-di-hi. Not so funny imo.

Referring to a film director he had worked with, Rupert Everett on Canal Plus this week said that 'she was a socialist at home, and Pol Pot in the work place'. This is wit.

Wry observations at the service of plot - this is humour. When you do away with the serious drama, you get PG Wodehouse.

Irony: 'Alsace is very welcoming of foreigners, as the low turnout for the Front National shows' - this is irony, which you dislike.

Finally, sarcasm, is the lowest form of wit. "Americans have the best sense of irony" - this is sarcasm.

[marguerite]

On reconnait bien votre patte ironique dans la derniere phrase de ce blog.
La question est :que va-t'il faire de tout ce qu'il aura releve comme hostile a notre cher President , ce jeune flic tres diplome ?

[Romain]

PJB,
I loved Allo Allo, it's"gud moening" and "I have a massage for you".Like Inspecteur Clouzot it is not really transposable in French, and could be taken adversely by some.
Daniel
How about this one :"J'ai toujours rêvé d'être journaliste à Strasbourg, parce que les Alsaciennes aiment bien les Kros Nikeurs" lol

[dot king]

I loved "Allô Allô too:

"Where are the British airmen?"
"Zey are in ze cupboard of ze bedroom of ze moezzer of maï wahf"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ6Xdt2nleg

(There's enough in this clip to either amuse or upset everybody!)

[dot king]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zlhU2tagDs

more of allô allô above
and below is "je t'aime moi non plus" by René et Yvette on the Terry Wogan Show
ENJOY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsbok_2LTQ0

[Daniel Strohl]

Romain,

"How about this one" - LOL! It is a sharp one!

One of my friends is a former journalist of DNA (Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace). I will e-mail him the joke - of course, I will not forget to quote my source!

[Romain]

Dot
Excellent ! "listen to me carefully, I vil say zis only once" lol
There is a recorded version of "Je t'aime" by Bourvil and Jacqueline Maillan. I'll search on INA site for you

[Never Mind]

Gawd... the man has my dream job!

I (who am anonymous here, so I can speak the truth without blushing) speak half a dozen of languages, can read and browse in another dozen, and have an IQ of 178 (relevant to predict misspellings and other "tactics"). I WISH somebody would pay me for browsing...!

What strings did he pull...?
I am SO jealous.
But - I am happy that SOMEBODY got a dream job... I am no worse off for it.

[Blendi]

Lol @ N.Mind

With an IQ of 178 it must be tough for you, especially on this blog ( where many express & profess IQ` of 270+ )so staying 'anon' could prove a good idea.
-----------------------------.
I fear that this guy, may be distracted easily and instead of 'Policing the Web' in President`s name, he may waste time and chat with friends, read papers, play solitaire and even ( god forbid) visit unsavoury sites.

So another post is called for -a post To Supervise the Sheriff.