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, , and to Athens, to follow the Greek debt crisis.
In 2011, Beardsley , 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 and has 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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A hundred years after his birth, French writer Albert Camus is perhaps best known for novels like The Stranger and his philosophy of absurdism. But it's his views on Algeria's fight for independence that continues\ to get scrutiny. -
A proposed law in France prevents online booksellers like Amazon from pricing books at deep discounts. It's the French government's latest effort to protect the country's many independent bookshops. -
Leonarda Dibrani, 15, was taken by police during a school field trip and deported along with the rest of her family to Kosovo. French protesters say the action runs counter to the country's values. -
The French bakers' lobby has launched a campaign to keep bread on people's minds. Their slogan, which is plastered on billboards and inscribed on bread bags, is "Cou cou, tu as pris le pain?" which translates roughly as, "Hi there, did ya pick up the bread?" -
The marshy wetlands of the Camargue in southern France are rich in wildlife and folklore. But the region's most stunning icons roams free here: the Camargue bull, one of Europe's last two breeds of fighting bulls. The creatures are taunted and teased, respected and revered. -
Only 10 years ago, the French were derided in Washington political circles for their rejection of plans to invade Iraq. Now the so-called "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" are standing by the U.S. on Syria 鈥� while the country's closest European ally, Britain, has rejected military action.
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Each summer, 5,000 tons of sand and nearly 100 palm trees transform a half-mile stretch along river into a beach paradise with volleyball, ice cream stands and sunbathing. Especially now, Paris Plage is a real boon for those who can't afford a more extravagant vacation. -
He may have lost a battle, but Gallic chieftain Vercingetorix won something greater: status a French national hero. Each summer, a Burgundy village holds a festival to mark the Gauls' defeat by Julius Caesar and the Roman army. -
The former IMF chief has been charged in connection with sex parties in the northern French city of Lille. Strauss-Kahn, who left the IMF in 2011 following allegations that he raped a maid in a New York City hotel, admits that he participated but says he did not know the women involved were prostitutes.
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Police enforcement of a ban on women wearing full-face veils in public places sparked unrest in a Paris suburb over the weekend. The law was approved two years ago, but remains a sensitive issue.
