French Sunday newspaper readers woke up last weekend to starkly different visions of their country's relationship with Russia, reports FRANCE 24.
"The bidding war of fear," said the headline of the Journal du Dimanche (JDD), accusing President Emmanuel Macron of seeking to panic France in an address to the nation last week when he described Russia as a "threat" to all of Europe.
The JDD, a venerable title founded in 1948, has taken an increasingly right-wing stance critical of Macron since coming under the ownership of tycoon Vincent Bolloré, joining his other right-wing outlets such as Europe 1 radio, rolling news channel C24 and the C8 channel.
By contrast, its Sunday rival La Tribune Dimanche, a centrist weekly, chose to highlight an interview with defence minister Sebastien Lecornu, a close ally of Macron, whose stern face covered the front page. "Those who deny the Russian threat are wrong," he said.
The contrasting front pages highlight a battle being played out in French media after the accession of Donald Trump to the White House emboldened those who argue Paris should now take a more conciliatory line towards Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The JDD also said Macron was seeking to "scare" France and carried an interview with former defence minister Hervé Morin, who accused Macron of "excessively worrying the French" over the risk posed by Russia.
In response, the Élysée took the highly unusual step of issuing a denial that Macron had ever sought to "scare" the French, in a statement on the official social media account of the French presidency.
"In this serious period ... everyone must ensure that the facts are perfectly accurate," it said. "The moment demands clarity, patriotism and a sense of national unity."
Macron's prime minister, François Bayrou, has made clear he has no intention to boycott Bolloré's hugely influential media stable at a time when the main domestic political challenge comes from the far-right.
Last week he gave an interview to Europe 1, fielding questions from its prominent presenter Laurence Ferrari.
But after Ferrari accused French officials of "wanting to go to war against Russia", a prominent Élysée advisor, asking not to be named, denounced the channel as "radio KGB".