Last June, I was invited to Lima, Peru, to give a speech about the impact of the Internet on political communications. Here is the video of my presentation.

This is a great souvenir. It was a real pleasure to present in front of such a great audience and it was the very first time that I was travelling to this wonderful country.

I can't wait to go back.

Base Jumping sous l'eau - Vidéos

Seen on Facebook lately, this incredible dive into the deepest blue hole on the planet with 202 meters depth, near the Bahamas islands. Guillaume Nery, the apnea world recordman is doing a kind of base jump in the water. Really amazing!

I love water. I've been a swiming champion when I was a young boy. I love to scuba dive as much as I can (I can not often enough) and I often wish to live one day on a boat.

In a way, I am happy that the French football team has left the World cup.

First of all, I have always considered that the French team did not deserve to participate to it,  assuming the way it managed qualification (I am still so sorry for the Irish team). Then, even if it is seen as a disaster for many fans here in my country, the elimination is a chance. It is now the only opportunity to change everything and to face the problems like they are. Just imagine if France would have reached the next round by miracle. You would have found some people to pretend that there was no problem about the team and its management. This would have been the most critical situation since everybody urges to face the concerns.

I remember James Grunig's presention at the IPRA congress in Peru. James was pointing that when you are facing a crisis (and it is a crisis), you have to deal with the accountability principle : you must face your responsibility even if it is not your fault. Pretending that there is nothing to comment is the worst attitude. And there is another principle to understand in the current situation : the symmetrical communication principle, the fact that you have to consider the puclic interest to be at least as important as your own interest.

Based on these two principles (at least), it is positive for the French football ecosystem to escape from the competition and then to get the time to face the problem. There is a huge demand here and you can bet that we will not forget this world cup. It will be in everybody’s mind for long.

But now it is time to work on dramatic changes. And I am looking forward to it.

I am really impressed by the way both Barack Obama and BP executives are trying to manage the crisis of the Gulf of Mexico. They are both facing an immense challenge: to win the opinion battle.

On one side, Barack Obama has to demonstrate that he is able to manage an enormous crisis. On the other side, BP has to demonstrate its ability to take its responsibilities in order to solve the problem and compensate for the dammages. Both want to save some of their image attributes and it is a giant public relations battle.

We all remember how hurricane Katrina damaged the perception of the Bush presidency in the US. Obama remembers it and he needs to be appear fully concerned. Unlike his predecessor, he travelled quickly onsite and came back several times (he has planed another trip these days). He multiplied the addresses to Americans and he is about to give a speech to the nation, the kind of speech that is dedicated to very exceptional situations (ie. Wars, terrorism,...). Beyond the efforts of its administration to help the citizens, it is obvious that he is managing a PR fight where the enemy is BP.

BP is working hard to appear as an organization that faces its responsibilities and that is fully committed to find a solution, no matter how much it may cost. Everybody is on board and all executives are maintaining a communication flow to demonstrate the ongoing efforts of the entire company to fix the oil spill. BP has no choice. It has been accused since the beginning. In his very first speech, Barack Obama has clearly stated: "BP will pay."

The U.S. administration has then created a second fight. It is not only to fight against the oil, but the purpose is also to fight against BP to demonstrate the effectiveness of the authority.

Hopefully, they will stop oil. But there is no doubt in my opinion that either Obama or BP will loose the second fight.

That is almost unbelievable. Today, the Chinese authorities have just released a white paper about the situation of the Internet in China. And, believe it or not, they have seriously written a chapter about the freedom of expression. I had to read it twice to realize it was not a fake.

Here is an abstract:



Waouh !!!! Can you believe that? When you think about the number of Chinese citizens that have been condemned and jailed (and still) for posting opinions on their blogs, you hardly believe that this government can write such a propaganda.