I survived week one

So that’s it. I made it to the end of my first week – four days to be precise. I met loads of interesting and friendly people, lots of things about working in a Newsroom were familiar, lots of things were very different.

Everyone was very helpful and made me feel very welcome. But at times my head hurt as I tried to get to grips with different language services, sponsored content, branded content, magazines and all types of differen editorial shows and products.

I’m not sure I would have got through the week without the help of Ali Ihsan Aydin – my digital colleague. Showing me how the canteen works, the coffee machines work, my computer works and putting up with all my stupid questions. He has been a godsend.

I finished my working week with a session learning how to use the content managment system. It is quite straightforward but I’m sure I’ve forgotten it all already.

And I made my first bit of real impact.

So how best to celebrate?

Roll on week two.

Au revoir to BBC friends

This evening I had a leaving do. Didn’t think it would be possible in a Covid world but about 40 of us had drinks and hugs in a central London pub. It was a lovely send off – people said and wrote nice things and I got a bit drunk.

Traditional fake front page gift – and an expensive bottle of whisky came home with me

Even better was at 11pm my son came to drive me home . That really is the end of BBC leaving dos now. From next week I will be a Euronews employee!

The news is out

I am now a Redacteur en Chef affecté au Numérique!

Euronews today released news of my arrival. The email is in both French and English so I was able to see the word numérique which I had learnt meant digital being used for real!

Very exciting. It was also good to see that I am:

un passionné d’ornithologie et un fervent supporter du Fulham FC.

That is important information for my new colleagues.

Leaving the BBC

Today marked my last day at the BBC after 23 years. Head of Digital Naja Nielsen rang me to wish me well and then sent a lovely email to the staff.

Slightly annoying not to get top-billing in my own leaving email

I then received lots of lovely messages which made me laugh and smile. As I said in my email to colleagues I will always look back very fondly on my years at the BBC where I had an amazing time and made some lifelong friends.

But now on to the next chapter.

Swear word update

Having said in my earlier post that the BBC website wouldn’t use a swear in the headline or top four paragraphs of a story and that I would have to get used to a different way of working at Euronews, take a look at this.

It’s a sure fire way to remind me that I no longer work at the BBC.

Ripping up the rulebook on swear words?

French President Emmanuel Macron has had strong words to say about France’s unvaccinated this morning.

In an interview with Le Parisien the president said:

Un Président ne devrait pas dire ça. Le garant de l'unité de la nation s'obstine à la diviser et assume vouloir faire des non-vaccinés des citoyens de seconde zone. Emmanuel Macron est indigne de sa fonction.
En avril, je serai la Présidente de tous les Français. pic.twitter.com/MKvaxsneec
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) January 4, 2022

So, there’s a new word for my French vocab – emmerder – to piss off.

J’ai très envie de les emmerder! I like that sentence.

The story is leading Euronews this morning with that translation IN THE INTRO!

Now, during my BBC career I became the go-to person to ask about the use of swear words in stories. This happened so often that I had a list of the most offensive swear words laminated on my desk. Our general rule of thumb was if it was absolutely essential to the telling of the story then it should be used but not in the intro or the top four paragraphs. This is because there is no watershed on the internet and a lot of children read the news site.

But France clearly has different rules and is comfortable putting strong language right there in the intro. Obviously more Guardian than BBC.

All change at Euronews

Today I got my first email as a staff member at Euronews. Although I haven’t quite started yet the restructuring announced will effect me in my new role.

The previous majority shareholder has sold up to a Portuguese investment firm.

This is all very new to me and a long way from how things worked at the BBC.

I have been reassured that the new shareholder wants to invest in Euronews’ digital operations which could make the next few months very exciting.

I know Euronews is disappointed in the way Reuters has written up the changes. For me, it reminds me that I will have a lot to learn in my new role.

A visit to Euronews’ London HQ?

I arranged a trip to Euronews’ London office to see some of my London-based colleagues. Before I went my son sent me this photo so I asked Euronews if this was their London base. Apparently it is not – it is a newsagent in Preston.

I met some lovely soon-to-be colleagues and it is all beginning to feel very real.

The deal is done

Having returned to the UK and discussed the offer from Euronews – along with a free flat to live in while we work out what do we our house and where to live in Lyon – today I accepted the offer. I told the headhunter when she rang me to check in with how the trip to Lyon had gone.

The next day I spoke to the HR director and told him the decision had been quite easy in the end – they made me feel very wanted.

I was then sent my contract to sign. It has to be in French, because of French law – but fortunately they included an English translation.

The deal is done and I have a start date – 1 February 2022.

My first trip to Lyon

My first view of the green box that is Euronews’ Lyon offices

On Monday 15 November, my wife Cath and I flew out to Lyon to see what we thought of the city – and whether we would be happy to relocate there.

I had been through a remote interview process and this was the final stage of the recruitment process – meet Euronews’ management team and experience Lyon for real. Could it become our new home?

The trip started with a lovely meal at L’Institution and then a day of meetings while Cath toured Lyon.

We met up for lunch and Cath’s first impressions of Lyon were positive. We walked around the beautiful old town before I had to head back for more meetings.

At the end of a long day, the CEO treated us to dinner at another restaurant – Selsius. It was delicious and I think our minds were made up about the move.

The one sour note were my attempts to speak French. I found it difficult but when the taxi driver asked me if I had heard a noise I was able to dig into my recent Duolingo lessons to say: Je n’ai rien entendu. I was happy with that.