Laura and Louise’s last editorial: Thank you and long live European journalism!

, by The editorial board of Le Taurillon, Laura Mercier, Louise Guillot, Translated by Lorène Weber

All the versions of this article: [English] [français]

Laura and Louise's last editorial: Thank you and long live European journalism!
The second edition of the European Press Days took place on 1st and 2nd March 2019 in Paris, in partnership between our French sister edition Le Taurillon, the IICP, the Association of European Journalists, Euradio and EurActiv. © Le Taurillon. All rights reserved.

In their last article as Editors-in-chief of Le Taurillon, our French sister edition, Laura Mercier and Louise Guillot review the transformations which have marked the continent over the past two years and the importance to take the time to give meaning to it.

The New Federalist warmly thanks and congratulates Laura and Louise for their amazing work, and for strengthening the relationship between the different language editions of the JEF webzine.

A journalistic and European adventure

Le Taurillon is an adventure which gave us the chance to take up the challenge of European journalism. A demanding adventure, during which one constantly wonders, not why, but how to talk about Europe. How to explain European politics? How to get French citizens interested in the current affairs of other European countries? How to talk about it differently to speak to the citizens on subjects that concern them? How to alert the media on their responsibility to inform on what is happening in Europe?

And when one takes a step back on what has marked European news for the past two years, we cannot deny the importance of European journalism.

European news cycles were marked by elections in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Sweden, Latvia, Romania, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Greece and elsewhere. By referendums, such as the one overturning the abortion ban in Ireland. But also, by the far-right coming into governments in several European countries, like in Italy.

By the murders of several European journalists, because they had chosen to do this job, beyond the threats. By attacks in London, Strasbourg, Cologne, Macerata and elsewhere. By breaches to the rule of law and violations of the freedom of expression, in the heart of the European Union. By the refusal of several governments to rescue refugees in the Mediterranean. By the Brexit chaos.

By major European policies such as the single-use plastic ban and the protection of whistleblowers. And above all, by rallies everywhere in Europe, whether they denounce violence against women, raise awareness on climate change, or oppose corrupted governments. And then, by the European elections which created new equilibriums within the institutions.

It is important to give meaning to these transformations experienced by European society, to these rallies, to the electoral results across Europe.

This is the challenge that guided our engagement within Le Taurillon. This is what drove us, every day, to write and proofread articles, to propose new subjects, new formats, and to commit ourselves for a European journalism. This issue of information and popularisation was the core of the second edition of the European Press Days, which took place on 1 and 2 March 2019 in Paris. This is what led us to work with partners who are driven by the same convictions. We thus warmly thank the Association of European Journalists, EurActiv, the IICP, Le Drenche, and so many others with whom we had the chance to work on various projects.

This is also an adventure where one takes up the challenge of Europe’s linguistic diversity to keep developing a transnational media, today published in seven languages. We thank the editorial team of each sister edition of Le Taurillon for their motivation, their countless ideas, and with whom we have been happy to share this adventure.

Finally, if for fourteen years Le Taurillon has been offering you different views on European news, debates on society issues, or different perspectives on European Union’s politics, it is thanks to our community of voluntary writers and translators. Writers with various opinions and interests, having the shared will to debate and propose their ideas. A very big thanks to Le Taurillon’s contributors who make this great journalistic project live, and to you, readers, for following us, sharing our work and reacting to it.

For us, it was a pleasure and a chance to be able to give anyone the chance to take the floor and express their views on the European project and on federalism. The democratic debate is not reserved to the few; all citizens have to be invited.

Le Taurillon will carry on with this participative approach, and we strongly encourage you to continue the adventure with Laurianne Bleuzé, Le Taurillon’s new editor-in-chief, and her team. Good luck to them and long live European journalism!"

Laura and Louise have now finished their two-year mandate with Le Taurillon. The New Federalist’s Editors-in-chief Juuso and Radu will soon do the same! The call to recruit two new Editors-in-chief is open. You can apply by 15 September at this link, deadline 15 September! The call for the other positions within the editorial team will be released at a later stage.

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