By Thierry Leveque
PARIS (Reuters) - A raid by French prosecutors on theoffices of a specialist magazine that published unauthorisedpictures of one of carmaker Renault's new models has refuelledsimmering controversy over press freedom in France.
"You have to think what kind of press we want," LaurentChiapello, editor of Auto Plus told Reuters on Wednesday, a dayafter prosecutors raided the magazine's offices, seizedcomputers and documents and arrested a journalist.
The incident is the latest flare-up in a perennial conflictbetween a scoop-hungry automobile press ready to pay forunauthorised advance pictures and carmakers eager to controlimages of their new models.
But it also comes at a time when press independence is thesubject of increasing debate after recent broadcast reformsthat give President Nicolas Sarkozy the power to name directlythe head of France's public television network.
Authorities have been conducting an investigation againstAuto Plus since last August after Renault complained that themagazine had published pictures and details of a new model notdue to be launched for another three years.
On Tuesday, officials raided the magazine's offices,sparking fierce complaints that the confidentiality ofreporters' sources had been undermined.
"By gaining access to the computers of our journalists,they gain access to all our sources and that poses a realproblem to our way of working independently and not tied to thecarmakers," Chiapello said.
Two of the country's biggest journalists' unions, SNJ andthe press section of Force Ouvriere have also complained.
"It's intolerable that journalists should be treated likecriminals when they are just doing their job of informing thepublic," SNJ said in a statement.
Renault said the complaint was intended to protect itsintellectual property.
"It kills creativity, you may as well just give our modelsto the newspapers and our competitors. What's the point ofdoing any research?" a spokesman said.
"The idea is not to attack Auto Plus but to cut off thesources that feed it, to find the source inhouse."
Raids on newspaper and magazine offices are rare in Francewhich has laws protecting press freedom.
A draft law, due to be examined in the Senate after thesummer recess, is intended to tighten safeguards on theconfidentiality of press sources, although exceptions remain incases of exceptional public interest.
Journalists organisations have complained the new law isstill too vague.