New York press shows contempt for IMF chief

The New York papers are continuing to give IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, now in custody on charges of sexual assault, the kind of coverage that would risk landing them in court in the UK for contempt for prejudicing a trial.

It's as if the papers have adopted the persona of the New York detective 'Popeye' Doyle and his hatred of haughty French criminal Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey) in the film The French Connection in their attitude to Strauss-Kahn.

'Sleazy Money': NY Post on arrest of IMF chief

This is how the New York Post covered the arrest of the International Monetry Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in New York on sex charges.

The intro says: "The IMF chief who allegedly sodomized a Manhattan hotel maid proved the height of pompous arrogance yesterday, throwing a fit over a battle on his bail — which left him parked on a wooden bench in an East Harlem station house the whole day, sources said.

"Leading French presidential contender and accused sex attacker Dominique Strauss-Kahn, 62, was finally led out of the NYPD’s Special Victims Unit at around 11 p.m. in handcuffs, scowling and red-faced. Sporting a long navy-blue coat and an open collar, he refused to acknowledge reporters as he was placed in the back of a police car and whisked off to Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn."

Elsewhere in the story the IMF boss is referred to as "an aging lothario" and a "whiny fat cat".

At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, the US doesn't have the same contempt laws as the UK.

Also, it is not every day that the NY Post and Financial Times lead on the same story.

NY Post splash: Stiff competition for UK tabloids

• The New York Post sure knows how to make a splash! Via Greg Mitchell on Twitter.
• The Post is famous for outrageous headlines - here's another about a suspected terrorist with explosives hidden in his pants.