Paris  - The appointment of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's alleged ex-girlfriend to the country's most prestigious TV news position is creating a stir, French media reported Monday.

According to the daily Liberation, 41-year-old Laurence Ferrari is to replace France's most popular and influential news reader, Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, as the host of France's most-watched news programme, the evening news on TF 1.

The change is motivated partly by declining audiences for the nightly programme, and the rise in popularity of its bitter rival, the evening news of the public TV station France 2.

But Liberation reported that another reason for the move may have been Sarkozy's recently stated wish that Ferrari take over France's top news spot.

Ferrari is apparently no stranger to the French president. After Sarkozy's divorce last October, numerous media reported that she and Ferrari were romantically involved.

The on-line edition of the British Daily Mail, which called Ferrari "arguably the most beautiful star of French television," reported in November that she had divorced her husband of 14 years amid rumours that she and Sarkozy were dating.

One source quoted by the newspaper said the two had a "close and loving relationship," and suggested that the two may have been dating since March 2007, when Ferrari had a one-on-one live interview with Sarkozy during his successful presidential campaign.

If there was a relationship, it apparently ended in November, when Sarkozy met the woman who eventually became his third wife, singer and ex-model Carla Bruni.

However, French media were reluctant to discuss the issue, and when they did Ferrari took them to court.

In January of this year, for example, a court awarded her 5,000 euros (8,900 dollars) from the French free daily Metro for invasion of privacy for having reported on the Daily Mail article about the affair.

Neither she nor Sarkozy have ever denied the stories that they had dated. (dpa)