Philippe Karsenty

Philippe Karsenty (born June 25, 1966) is a French media analyst and the founder of Media-Ratings, a company monitoring the French media for bias. Karsenty came to widespread public attention when he was sued for libel by the French television network, France 2, over accusations of staged footage by France 2 over the reported killing of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, Muhammad al-Durrah.

Karsenty was born into a family of Jewish immigrants from North Africa. When he was in his 20s, he set up a share-trading company on the Paris Bourse, and continued to work as a broker until 1997.

In 1996, he set up a business consultancy, and in 2002, he ran for parliament on a center-right ticket, obtaining only 3% of the vote. In 2008, he was elected a deputy mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Muhammad al-Durrah Controversy

Karsenty came to public attention in 2004, when he was sued for libel by the French television network, France 2, after accusing the network of having broadcast a staged footage of the reported killing of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, Muhammad al-Durrah, during a gun battle in the Gaza Strip in 2000. France 2 won its case in October 2006, but the judgment was overturned by the Paris Court of Appeal in May 2008, with France 2 refusing to release the full footage taken by their stringer on that day. France 2 has appealed the decision to the Cour de cassation, France's highest court. Subsequently, Karsenty won a case against Canal+, a French pay television channel, which broadcast a documentary film supporting Charles Enderlin's report. Karsenty said the documentary had slandered him while ignoring the facts. In February 2012, the Cour de cassation cancelled the ruling of the Court of Appeal which had acquitted Karsenty. On June 26, 2013, the Paris Court of Appeals once again convicted Karsenty of defamation, and fined him €7000.

In parallel, on June 10, 2010, a court in Nanterre sentenced Canal Plus and Tac Press for defaming Philippe Karsenty in a documentary broadcast by this channel on April 24, 2008 whose title was Rumors, Brainwashing: The New News War.

2012 Legislative Election

He stood as a dissident right-wing candidate, against the candidate endorsed by Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement, in the Eighth constituency for French residents overseas (which includes French residents in Israel, as well as in Italy, Turkey, Greece and several other countries) for the 2012 legislative election. He finished third, with 14.45% of the vote, and did not advance to the run-off vote. In February 2013, the Constitutional Council found irregularities in the funding of his electoral campaign, and barred him from standing for public office for a period of one year.