Journalist and Foreign Correspondent
A journalist and foreign correspondent, I have 30 plus years’ experience in journalism in Australia and overseas. From television reporting out of Canberra to covering French and European news for newspapers around the world. My life as a Europe correspondent began in France. Though not everyone recognises Strasbourg, ‘capital of Europe’, as being in France. Many think it’s in Germany on the other side of the Rhine, or in Austria.
‘The journalist from the end of the world’ (le bout du monde). That’s how the local Strasbourg Magazine described me, after I stood on the very crossroads of Europe for this photo. Strasbourg is where my career as a journalist and foreign correspondent began. It was also a city I called home for many years, working out of the European Parliament and Council of Europe as an accredited journalist.
Prior to moving to France in the 90s, I started out in journalism in Australia, working for many years in TV, radio and print journalism. From the fledgling team at Prime Television in Canberra and the ABC radio newsroom in Melbourne, to freelancing for newspapers and magazines and ABC Radio National shows.
The Eurofile column: Montreal Gazette
Since 1998, I have covered EU news for newspapers and radio. The Toronto Globe & Mail, The Montreal Gazette, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, The Singapore Straits Times and The South China Morning Post. These are some of the titles for whom I have been a regular to occasional correspondent over the years.
My reasonably long running ‘Eurofile’ column for the Montreal Gazette was written out of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Right on the cusp of email communication with editors! From fax to email story filing. What an antiquity I am! Further proof of that is the story below from the Gazette’s archives on French activist farmer, José Bové. The ‘Robin Hood of Roquefort’ as I dubbed him. I’ve always been good at headlines (and modesty).
Based in Paris since 2015, I’ve focused on French and EU news as well as issues back home in Australia. Multimedia from the outset, I was working in TV, radio and print pretty much simultaneously early in my career. These days, when digital rules, that comes in handy. Despite being a veteran, or perhaps because of, today I am still truly multimedia and capable of adapting to the times. I appreciate those building blocks from my days studying journalism in Canberra.
Following, is a portfolio of my stories for digital and print media outlets over the years. Starting with a few relics from the Montreal Gazette and other papers in days when stories were only in print.
The digital age: Forbes coverage
The time that my print experience truly turned digital, was during the Covid pandemic, largely reporting for Forbes. I wrote hundreds of stories for Forbes on the travel fallout globally for travellers, uploading them direct to Forbes digital platform, Bertie. This included all the SEO stuff plus sourcing pics and promoting on social media. It was an exciting time, though I hope it’s not repeated. Some of my stories for Forbes were getting up to half a million views. I take that as a sign that they were pertinent … The classic ‘what you need to know’ article works a treat.
One kindly American reader said I was ‘the best travel intel around’! I tried my best to provide timely information that captured the travel implications of the breaking news. Mostly in France, Europe-wide, the US and Australia (because the call of home is strong … and I was locked out!) Borders, tests, travel restrictions, I had Europe covered. Frankly, I was quite amazed at the lack of informative and accurate reporting on such a huge issue.
As the pandemic broke out, my first story was a marathon effort to try and collate the border closures Europe-wide. And the situation just got more complicated with time, as each country took its own path than the EU one to different degrees. Then the story on ‘who can travel to Europe’ now, with almost 400,000 views. No doubt about it, Forbes is a powerful platform … when backed by digitally dextrous, cluey journos.
Of course, social media is vital when getting leverage for stories. I confess, I am currently not very active on X. Actually, I’m as inactive as Mount Vesuvius has been for decades, and hopefully will stay that way. But my stories for Forbes got a lot of leverage via ‘Twitter’ as it then still was.
Look what #LoveIsNotTourism #LoveIsEssential campaigns have done! From 1 country early July to now 10 with borders open for non-discriminatory love. Some big issues to iron out @EU_Commission @YlvaJohansson @moritzkoerner #DoItLikeDenmark @Solange54138238 https://t.co/EWjIFdImVr
— Tamara Thiessen (@TamaraJThiessen) August 14, 2020
Snowballing evidence of #airlines selling tickets for unscheduled flights, or flights that are unlikely to take off amid Covid-19 travel bans. The #refunds scandal thickens. @flightradar24 @roryboland @FlyersRights @KendallFlyers @USDOT @AirPassRightsCA https://t.co/0D3VS6TbtD
— Tamara Thiessen (@TamaraJThiessen) June 4, 2020
The EU is poised to officially block out US arrivals until at least mid July, if a draft decision on the safe travel list of countries is formally adopted by majority vote Tuesday. It will then come into force from Wednesday. #USA #us
— Tamara Thiessen (@TamaraJThiessen) June 29, 2020
#EU #europe #Travel https://t.co/ptSb1paKTt
Reporting from home
Australia was home to the longest lockdown in the world, and arguably the most watertight border closures too. So, my home country was also a steady source of good stories, reporting from offshore. Down under, in Fortress Australia, Melbourne was subjected to six lockdowns totalling 262 days between March 2020 and October 2021. The city understandably went lockdown crazy. To think it all began, in journalist Laura Tingle’s words, because one security guard couldn’t keep his pants up! All that made a bit of joke out of the whole idea of quarantine hotels. Then, Australia’s heavy-handed measures risked appearing hypocritical and unfair when celebrities – from tennis stars to Hollywood stars – dodged the travel restrictions.
I reported on the pandemic in Australia both from home and from France. As I left in April 2021 to return to the one roof I have over my head, which is in Paris. From that point on, I like thousands of other Australians, struggled to get home because of the quotas on incoming citizen numbers. It took me a year and four cancelled flights to finally manage to get back in. Something no other democratic country did to its citizens and not, in my mind, a fair way of handling affairs of State.
Travel deprived: Airline news
In the end, Covid just showed how much we are all, pretty much, hooked on travel. Until Covid turned us off it! But as airlines slowly returned to European skies, from aviation graveyards, this story netted almost 200,000 readers. That’s one travel-hungry readership, eager for news and information. Covid grounded airlines globally but much less so in the US than in Europe. Or particularly in Australia, which came to a standstill.
