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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In 1944, as Allied troops celebrated D-Day victory, a French family experienced a trauma that would be felt for generations: a murder and sexual assault so traumatic they are only now coming to terms with it. -
Paris police are deployed in force to prevent antisemitic attacks and other violence when the French and Israeli national teams play Thursday.
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Paris police deploy in force to prevent antisemitic and other violence as France and Israeli soccer teams play on Thursday.
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The search for the unknown photographer began in the summer of 2020, with the discovery of an old photo album at a flea market in southern France. -
In one Paris bar, predicting the outcome of the U.S. presidential election is a long tradition. For over a century, a straw poll taken there has been pretty accurate at predicting the winner.
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The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo. Its members are survivors of the August 1945 U.S. nuclear bomb attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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The Japanese grassroots group Nihon Hidankyo, an organization of World War II atomic bombing survivors, has won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to create a world free of nuclear weapons. -
A war of words has broken out in the Parisian arts world as two museums are under fire for allegedly relabeling Tibetan art to appease the Chinese.
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A man at the center of a mass rape trial in France testified Tuesday. He is accused of drugging his wife and offering her up to a steady stream of men from an online chatroom.
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A war and famine in Sudan have displaced over 10 million people, with no sign of letting up. It’s the largest displacement crisis in the world, and refugees have fled as far as Europe.
