Eleanor Beardsley
Eleanor Beardsley began reporting from France for NPR in 2004 as a freelance journalist, following all aspects of French society, politics, economics, culture and gastronomy. Since then, she has steadily worked her way to becoming an integral part of the NPR Europe reporting team.
Beardsley has been an active part of NPR's coverage of terrorist attacks in Paris and in Brussels. She has also followed the migrant crisis, traveling to meet and report on arriving refugees in Hungary, Austria, Germany, Sweden and France. She has also traveled to Ukraine, including the flashpoint eastern city of Donetsk, to report on the war there, and to Athens, to follow the Greek debt crisis.
In 2011, Beardsley covered the first Arab Spring revolution in Tunisia, where she witnessed the overthrow of the autocratic President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Since then she has returned to the North African country many times.
In France, Beardsley has covered three presidential elections, including the surprising win by outsider Emmanuel Macron in 2017. Less than two years later, Macron's presidency was severely tested by France's Yellow vest movement, which Beardsley followed closely.
Beardsley especially enjoys historical topics and has covered several anniversaries of the Normandy D-day invasion as well as the centennial of World War I.
In sports, Beardsley closely covered the Women's World Soccer Cup held in France in June 2019 (and won by Team USA!) and regularly follows the Tour de France cycling race.
Prior to moving to Paris, Beardsley worked for three years with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. She also worked as a television news producer for French broadcaster TF1 in Washington, D.C., and as a staff assistant to South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond.
Reporting from France for Beardsley is the fulfillment of a lifelong passion for the French language and culture. At the age of 10 she began learning French by reading the Asterix the Gaul comic book series with her father.
While she came to the field of radio journalism relatively late in her career, Beardsley says her varied background, studies and travels prepared her for the job. "I love reporting on the French because there are so many stereotypes about them in America," she says. "Sometimes it's fun to dispel the false notions and show a different side of the Gallic character. And sometimes the old stereotypes do hold up. But whether Americans love or hate France and the French, they're always interested!"
A native of South Carolina, Beardsley has a Bachelor of Arts in European history and French from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, and a master's degree in International Business from the University of South Carolina.
Beardsley is interested in politics, travel and observing foreign cultures. Her favorite cities are Paris and Istanbul.
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French authorities say they're using this solution to try to supplement existing toilets in heavily congested areas where there are urine issues.
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Butchers are an integral part of French life, and are known for carefully sourcing their meat. But now some are being targeted by extreme vegans who use vandalism to draw attention to their cause. -
French Muslim rapper Médine is set to perform at the Bataclan, the Paris venue attacked by Islamist terrorists in 2015. Some politicians condemn it, but some survivors say censorship isn't the answer. -
Twin brothers killed in Europe during World War II were separated in death. One was buried above Omaha Beach and the other in an cemetery in Belgium. Their remains will soon rest together in Normandy.
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An immigrant who saved a child was awarded French citizenship. The case has inflamed the debate over immigration, and how to handle the large numbers of migrants who continue to come to France.
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There has been much talk about how Ireland's border with the U.K. will work after Brexit, but more than 250 billion Euros of goods cross the English Channel between France and the U.K. every year, and French officials say Brexit could be a disaster for Europe's most important trading corridor.
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Since 2016, an investigative journalist in France has been on a mission to show students how they're duped, teaching them how to tell true from false online. -
Eighty percent of French people can't tell a real news story from a fake one. Since 2016, a teacher has been showing his students how they're duped and teaches them how to distinguish true from false.
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French authorities say a man who took hostages in a supermarket in southern France, killed three people and wounded 16 others is now dead.
