Publishing, the Rules of the Trade

Yann Piat : l’histoire secrète d’un assassinat

Claude Ardid et Jeanne-Marie Bourget, Plon, original edition, 1998, Coll. Bfm - Limoges

Yann Piat: histoire secrète d’un assassinat (1998) by Claude Ardid and Jacques-Marie Bourget is presented as a ‘counter enquiry’. The summary applications judge, asked for a ruling by the family of a key witness in the case who had since died, accepted that the incriminated passages were offensive to the memory of this witness. Modifications and a corrective insert were demanded. The penalty for each infringing volume seized was high (1000 francs). As in the Gaudino case, the publisher, Plon, felt the judgement was too hasty. The bailiffs left no time for books to be withdrawn from the several thousand sales points all over France. After protesting, the publisher was required to pay a symbolic one franc penalty.