No Editorializing, Please

The cover portrait showed an aged and heavily wattled Valéry Giscard d’Estaing slumped before a television set. On the screen was a photograph of a hale and vigorous François Mitterrand. An altogether apt representation, one might think, of the results of France’s presidential election. Except that the portrait appeared on the cover of France’s respected newsweekly L’Express five days prior to the decisive May 10 balloting.

It was all too much for L’Express Owner Jimmy Goldsmith, a dual French and British citizen, who is a devout conservative and staunch admirer of Giscard. The eventual election results did not help either. Last week Goldsmith sacked L’Express Managing Editor Olivier Todd, and, in turn, Editor in Chief Jean-François Revel resigned in protest.