Raid on French car magazine refuels press debate

By Thierry Leveque PARIS (Reuters) - A raid by French prosecutors on the offices of a specialist magazine that published unauthorized pictures of one of carmaker Renault's new models has refueled simmering controversy over press freedom in France. "You have to think what kind of press we want," Laurent Chiapello, editor of Auto Plus told Reuters on Wednesday, a day after prosecutors raided the magazine's offices, seized computers and documents and arrested a journalist. The incident is the latest flare-up in a perennial conflict between a scoop-hungry automobile press ready to pay for unauthorized advance pictures and carmakers eager to control images of their new models. But it also comes at a time when press independence is the subject of increasing debate after recent broadcast reforms that give President Nicolas Sarkozy... [read full story]