Obviously living in America differs than living in France. For one, there is a language barrier that many people in the states would try to have you not believe is present. That is wrong. Another is the way in which the French and Americans interact with each other when it concerns the way in which a person is thanked. Adding up all the other obvious cultural differences between the two countries would more than likely result in a hard time for any regular citizen from either country to live in the respectable opposite nation. However upon receiving more knowledge, the information seems to lead me to believe that one of the hardest transitions between the two countries could fall on journalists. I know “not journalist” professionals would simply say that as a journalist I’m paying more attention to this area than others, and that might be true. Why would I say this?
Well, upon attending a lecture at Sciences Po University in Paris I was exposed to an idea that pushed an intriguing button of my mind. The idea simply knocked the foundation of all my journalism education to pieces: privacy supersedes newsworthiness on a particular subject, sex. Yup… let that sink in. Any normal Joe may simply laugh at my reaction of this, but to all you journalists unaware of French journalistic principles, pick your jaw up off the floor and open your ears. In France the invasion of personal privacy in regarding sex is simply sought as one of the vilest things a journalist could do. Now, I’m not suggesting that in America journalists are told to feast on the private sex lives of its citizens, but I am saying that should something come up that may be considered a public concern journalists in the United States are encouraged to let that story take them as far as it can.
