Archive for February, 2010
From paradise to Brussels
Working for the European Parliament is in many senses a unique experience. One of them is that you get the chance to work in a multicultural environment with people from all over Europe. In our unit we got “representatives” from 22 different countries. I normally share office with my nice Bulgarian colleague Svetla, who used [...]
Brake-down in communication?
I wouldn’t fancy working in Toyota’s communications department at the moment. The company has sailed into a perfect “faulty component” storm that has led to the recall of millions cars and trucks and a suspension in sales of many of its most popular models. The estimated bill is expected to top a cool 2 billion [...]
To tweet or not to tweet?
Here is the reverse side of the coin for Twitter? Or perhaps just a better explanation? Watch a teenager speaking about the point of twitter and about the world according to Twitter in his series, specially dedicated for “tech geeks”, as he says, or, why not, everybody interested…
The Dutch: not tolerant, only pragmatic
A bunch of stoned people (perhaps that is what’s blurring their minds and making them so liberal?), going everywhere on a bike (because it is cheaper?), eating cheese, raw fish (and an occasional potato) in case eating is really necessary (and boy, the food is bad over there). All this accompanied by beautiful flowers (read: [...]
What is entrepreneurship all about?
Have you ever thought of being your own boss, of being an entrepreneur? Do you want to do what you believe in instead of following the orders of someone who pays you? If yes, you are different. The majority of people in Europe never had this kind of idea. The EC is encouraging enterprising film [...]
Farm content
I imagined it could exist but I under-suspected the scale of it. Read this article by the NY Times (of course) about a company who provides content to everyone on the net, creating literal “farm content” where free-lancers are under-paid to write about everything search engines are spotting as commonly sought or of interest for [...]
Haiku news from the European Parliament
This week, a group of journalists endeavoured to make a “news” experiment. They isolated themselves from the world’s traditional media (no radio, no television, no newspapers) and “produced” news having as unique sources of information “haiku” texts on Facebook and Twitter. To complicate things, they were not allowed to click on the links proposed in [...]
The day we wanted to go to the 12th floor
This day we thought we were going for a regular lunch at the EP, instead we were taken on a rather Kafkaesque behind-the-scenes tour.
Horace’s spam sandwich
Let me do some maths today. I have been an editor of the EP website since the beginning of 2007. We write one or two stories per day, let us make it average: one and a half, times three years, be it 200 working days per year (minus holidays etc.), and we get: 1.5 x [...]
Facebook looks lively
Fans of the European Parliament Facebook page have been extremely active lately. It’s not always obvious to us why this happens on this or that subject, but of course we are delighted to see it when it does so. In particular, we have seen a very lively discussion on EU enlargement, which really seems to [...]
Is social media jeopardizing our careers?
Is social media jeopardizing our careers? This is the question I ran upon when reading through an article today. And here is one piece of advice – job seekers ought to pay much more attention on where and what exactly they are posting on the online environment, since this can jeopardize their careers. According to a survey made [...]
A case study: new Diesel campaign
Last weekend, I discovered the new Diesel communication campaign in Next, the monthly supplement of French newspaper “Libération.” Fashion is a crowded industry where brands fight each other to get customers’ attention and, eventually, preferences. That means the money to buy a pair of used jeans. In terms of communication, it is often a creative field and, [...]
Twittering the hearings
Just a short post to draw attention to one of the more interesting aspects of the hearings of commissioners-designate, one which may mark an important change in the way EP political groups communicate. I was fascinated to observe during the seven days of hearings we have already had, and presumably in the one more we [...]
Let’s hide the ugly truth underground?
“Could you be a bit more… flowery?” my boss asked me after having read a letter I had drafted. Flowery??? “Well, the text is perfectly alright but you are too much to the point… it is very short, very Nordic…” After some investigation I figured that my Latin boss back from the years did not [...]
Dante call Brussels
I don’t know if there are many Italians reading this blog. But I would still like to point out to you two blogs dealing with EU affairs in Dante’s language. Straneuropa is written by the Brussels correspondent of ”La Stampa”, a widely-read newspaper. It depicts EU politics with a sense of sharp humour and constructive, pro-European criticism. Sometimes he relates funny, surprising anecdotes from [...]
Watching it like an outsider
My out of office automatic email reply has been on for almost three long months. Coming back last week, I felt like home again after a long trip: everything seemed so familiar, and so much different at the same time. (Almost) same faces, same corridors, more or less the same workload, but a different perspective. [...]
A capital idea
In 2010 three cities will be named European Capitals of Culture, but it’s more than just a title. Inhabitants of the culture capitals see it as an opportunity to broadcast their talents around the world. EuroparlTV went to Essen to find out what makes one worthy of the title. Watch more…
Statistics – a quick look on the backstage
Let’s have a (critical) view on our production on this blog… Is it enough? Is it equally distributed? Here are some statistics to help you make your own opinion.
Parents’ right to leave
As a mother you have the right to 14 weeks paid maternity leave in the EU. The figure for fathers is far lower. MEPs are looking to raise the bar for parents to boost Europe’s flagging demographic, and to help tip the work-life balance in favour of families. Watch this video!
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