Some French journalists are rebelling against what they see as blatantly pro-Yes propaganda in the EU Constitution referendum -- by publicly-owned media.

An excerpt from the BBC story:

In the fraught, passionate and sometimes frenzied debate in France over the referendum on the European Constitution, the spotlight has now been turned full beam onto the role and conduct of the media.

Some journalists have launched a petition for fairer coverage

The debate over the benefits and the drawbacks of the treaty has not only divided France, it has also bitterly split France's journalists over the nature of their coverage.

A group of journalists from French state TV and radio are so angered by what they see as one-sided propaganda campaign being broadcast on the airwaves on behalf of the government and the Yes campaign that they have set up an online petition, signed by more than 15,000 people since 1 May.

They presented it to President Jacques Chirac, the heads of French TV and radio and to the director of the CSA French broadcasting standards authority, Dominique Baudis.

"This is a grotesque situation," says Jacques Cotta, a well-known TV correspondent for France 2 who is one of the leaders of the campaign for fair coverage in the lead-up to the referendum.

"Publicly-owned media in France are broadcasting sheer propaganda to the public, and this absence of any pluralism or any attempt to represent and discuss the point of view of those who want to vote No to the Treaty is profoundly undemocratic."

The stakes are quite high in this political exercise. See this posting, which offers an excerpt of Toronto Star columnist Richard Gwyn's look at the referendum.