BBC News has reported that with many of France’s major media outlets owned by President Nicolas Sarkozy’s close friends, publicly criticizing Sarkozy is not easy. Fears have arisen that the freedom of the French press is now being stifled. Last summer, few in France remarked that Sarkozy appeared seemingly drunk in front of television cameras at a news conference following a meeting with Vladimir Putin at the G8 Summit. When Sarkozy visited Moscow in October, he was ridiculed by major Russian media outlets for his high-heeled boots and his confusion over central Moscow landmarks. He was jokingly described as a modern Napoleon, lost in Moscow. The lampooning was all the more remarkable in that we all know that such commentary would not appear in the Russian press without the Kremlin’s approval, or instruction. In France, however, little was reported on the disrespectful treatment of their head of state.