Finance Minister Makes News At The AAPA
Finance Minister Christine Lagarde made headlines when she talked to over two dozen AAPA members on April 13 in an annexe of the Finance Ministry. The timing was excellent, as Lagarde had spent the previous weekend on the phone with her euro-zone counterparts to hammer out details of a recovery package to help Greece out of its debt crisis. Lagarde told us the Greek plan could serve as a…
Florence Aubenas brings passion to prison reform
It was one of those rare, friendly, informal meetings with a top French journalist: Florence Aubenas, the prize-winning war correspondent and former hostage in Iraq, whose best-selling book Quai de Ouistreham, recounts her six months living as a lower-class cleaning lady, notably on an English ferry boat. A dozen members spent two hours with her at Member John Morris' Marais apartment March 15,…
J-D Levitte, off the record again
Nearly 30 members of the AAPA met Feb. 11 with Jean-David Levitte, conseilleur diplomatique to President Sarkozy, in a sumptuous room near the Elysée. The meeting was off the record, in the American style. We have met with him five times.
Renault's P. Pelata talks to AAPA
Renault COO Patrick Pelata Renault's Chief Operating Officer Patrick Pelata spilled a few beans and created news when he met with the AAPA over breakfast on Dec. 17 at the auto maker's headquarters. Pelata disclosed that Renault is talking to other companies including Germany's Daimler AG and some in China about possible collaboration in making key car components.. He explained how Renault is…
A Letter From The President
Dear Friends and Members of the Anglo-American Press Association, It is a both an honor and a challenge to have been chosen to serve as president of this association, with its long and rich history, its dynamic present and promising future. The life of a foreign correspondent is never easy…and never boring. It is challenging for many reasons, but every journalist I have met in my 20 years abroad…
AGM elects a dynamic new management team
Our Annual General Meeting, held Nov. 12 and once again hosted by Member John Morris Nov. 12, elected a new slate of officers and committee for 2009-2010. Virginia Power was unanimously elected president, pledging to lead actively and creatively, following a successful tenure of the co-presidency of Georgina Oliver and Gregory Viscusi, who will remain as ex-officio members for the new term.…
Une Grande Dame De La Chanson Française
Committee Member Bill Diem Basks In The StarlightEager to meet a 1940s existentialist icon turned grande dame of la chanson française up-close, a group of AAPA members gathered Oct. 28 in an ideal Left Bank setting: the plush red velvet-armchaired Empire-style bar of L'Hôtel on the rue des Beaux-Arts (where the Association celebrated its 100th anniversary in December 2007). Our guest? Juliette…
AAPA Members Meet New Head Of UNESCO
Credit photo: UNESCO/Michel Ravassard Some thirty members had a first-hand chance to probe Irina Bokova’s background, experience and plans for UNESCO following her successful election as Director General of the Paris-based agency, in a newsworthy, lively event on Oct. 7. Our breakfast meeting with Bokova, still at that time Bulgaria's ambassador to France, took place at UNESCO headquarters,…
The press gang: what our members are up to
David Wingeate Pike's new book /Mauthausen: L'Enfer Nazi en Autriche/ (Toulouse: Editions Privat), with a preface by the survivor Pierre Daix, is out in the bookshops. Georgina Oliver's husband, Felix Rozen's latest exhibition (left) is at the Musée des Année 30 in Boulogne Billancourt. Barry James' son Sebastian (www.sebjames.com) has just completed a monumental mural painting on the Crédit…
Members discuss wine crisis, worst in 35 years
As Joe Ray wrote recently about a subject dear to many of our hearts, they say it's the worst wine crisis in France in 35 years. In Bordeaux, they say that it's the worst in 150 years. The problem? The numbers are down. Wine consumption within the country is beginning to lose out to beer and responsibility behind the wheel, while beyond French borders the rest of the world's winemakers are…