Strauss-Kahn Report Disappears From The Pages of The Economist in France
The Economist magazine’s “Briefing” section on “The Downfall of Dominique Strauss-Kahn” disappeared from the May 21st edition distributed in France, as the publication skips from page 24 to page 37.
The omission is a printing error confined to France, according to Kate Cooke, marketing director for The Economist in Geneva. It has affected “no more than several hundred copies,” she said in an e-mail today, adding that the magazine has 51,500 subscribers in France.
The London-based magazine isn’t free of news on the New York arrest of the head of the International Monetary Fund on charges he sexually assaulted and attempted to rape a hotel maid in Manhattan. Strauss-Kahn, who has since resigned from his post at the IMF, is the subject of a front-of-the-magazine piece titled “Damned” that says: “Whatever the man did, do not forsake his ideas.”
Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers, who warned French media last week to be wary of broadcasting images that might undermine the presumption of innocence after footage appeared of him handcuffed and unshaven en route to his May 16 arraignment, weren’t behind The Economist’s omission, Dominique de Leusse de Syon, one of his lawyers in France, said by telephone today.
Strauss-Kahn, now free on bail, has denied the charges and pledged to defend himself.
The Economist has received “very few” complaints from subscribers about the missing pages and will send new copies to those it knows didn’t get the full issue, Cooke said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Smith in Paris at hsmith26@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net.
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