Portinglês: Navigating the Quirks of Portuguese-English Interchange
Saturday, November 4th, 2023 | Articoli | Comments Off on Portinglês: Navigating the Quirks of Portuguese-English Interchange
Associated or Assossiated?
Organization or Organezation?
Found or fund?
The answer to these questions is encapsulated in one word: Portinglês, the problems of Portuguese-English and vice versa.
Although Portuguese people learn languages quite smoothly, there are mistakes they easily make when speaking English. In this episode of Palavras Cruzadas for Portuguese public radio station RTP, we find out with Dalila Carvalho, what words and expressions put Portuguese people in trouble: “th” noise, “nh” sound, and the so-called false friends.
Click here not to miss my funniest episode, with jokes and anecdotes.
Words under siege: The power of language in war reporting
Thursday, November 2nd, 2023 | Articoli | Comments Off on Words under siege: The power of language in war reporting
Covering a war requires great care in the choice of words and expressions. Language can be a minefield with many pitfalls that jeopardize journalists’ impartiality. A poorly chosen word in a media context can result in swift denunciations by listeners, viewers, and readers.
What is the difference between war and armed conflict? When is it appropriate to speak of invasion and when of military operation? What words to avoid when reporting on war? Is it okay to use the word terrorist or is it too politicized? How does the Associated Press Stylebook, a journalism “bible” that is consulted when covering a particularly insidious war such as the current one in Israel, work?
I answer all these questions, and more, on the radio program “Palavras Cruzadas” on Portuguese public radio station RTP.
Click here to listen to episodes hosted by Dalila Carvalho.
A Man Who Always Gets Lucky Twice
Tuesday, September 5th, 2023 | Articoli | Comments Off on A Man Who Always Gets Lucky Twice
“A Man Who Always Gets Lucky Twice.” This is the title of my second episode of Palavras Cruzadas, RTP’s radio program hosted by Dalila Carvalho, focused on the choice and use of words. Each week, the host invites her guests to explain why they use certain words rather than others, this is because the words we use every day say more about us than what we look like.
The first two of seven episodes with me as guest aired today. Click here to listen to them.
Stay tuned to make sure you don’t miss the next episodes in which I tell a 360-degree story, starting from my interrogation with PIDE, to my travels with 3 different popes, and ending with the interview I managed to snag with General Antonio de Spinola.
A man who got lucky twice, or the iconic foreign correspondent in Lisbon or a visionary about the future of media? Or perhaps all three? To find out, follow all the episodes in which I am a guest on the program.
More than 50 years of papal visits to Portugal: my analysis
Sunday, August 6th, 2023 | Articoli | Comments Off on More than 50 years of papal visits to Portugal: my analysis
I was a guest on Portugal’s leading news network, SIC Noticias.
It was a unique opportunity to analyze more than 50 years of papal visits to Portugal, which I have witnessed since 1967: a massive turnout this time, lasting five days, for a small country with a big global footprint.
The next challenge in Asia: South Korea 2027.
Click here to rewatch my interview.
New Lisbon Casino Conferences – 2023 Cycle What is at stake?
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023 | Articoli | Comments Off on New Lisbon Casino Conferences – 2023 Cycle What is at stake?
A century and a half ago, a group of leading Portuguese thinkers decided to conduct a series of conferences on major issues that challenged the world at the end of the 19th century.
Building on this concept and on Portugal’s need to respond to the major challenges of the 21st century with deep dives and original approaches, Circulo Eça de Queiroz, the Gremio literario and the Centro Nacional da Cultura, launched into groundbreaking round tables: the new Conferencias do Casino.
The idea came from three concerned citizens who observed Portugal’s increasing cosmopolitanism in recent years and the need to broaden perspectives. They are Pedro Rebelo de Sousa, Jose Veiga Sarmento, and Dennis Redmont.
Russia and Ukraine, on May 17, ignited the first session with Giuliano da Empoli and Bruno Maçães at Fundacão Calouste Gulbenkian.
AI and Art was the groundbreaking battlefield at the prestigious Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga for the second conference.
Europe and Portugal were the object of scrutiny for the third conference. Here to watch the conferences’ registration.
Upcoming are a series of lectures on Globalization and Deglobalization, and a major meditation on the crisis of democratic capitalization with Martin Wolf at the futuristic Fundação Champalimaud on October 23.
Stay tuned for dates and details!
Click here to download the press release with the description of the project.
Click here to download the first lecture’s press release with the speakers’ presentation.
Click here to download the second and third lectures’ press releases.
Tribute to Henry Kamm
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023 | Articoli | Comments Off on Tribute to Henry Kamm
Portugal honors the memory of the New York Times correspondent who passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 98, Henry Kamm, one of my mentors from the Great Generation: first as a World War II refugee, then as a witness to decolonization in many African and Asian countries.
Together, as seen in the opening photo, in 1982 we interviewed Pope John Paul II on a flight to Rome, returning from a papal trip to Africa.
Click here to read the tribute published in the Diario de Noticias by Leonidio Paulo Ferreira.
A Look Beyond Papal Trips that Read Like Thrillers
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023 | Articoli | Comments Off on A Look Beyond Papal Trips that Read Like Thrillers
1967-2023: Over 50 years of history, five pontificates and three papal trips to the country of “Saudade.” Popes’ visits to #Portugal and other places might appear like thrillers, diplomatic drama, and security challenges, but beyond the pageantry, there is more than what meets the eye. My experience started in 1967 …
“A papal trip to a Catholic country brings with it an explosive mixture of history, diplomacy, politics, and sensational events. And after the trip ends what remains in memory are the unusual events, but some of them only become clear years later.”
Click here to continue reading my article published for Diario de Noticias.
1965. Lisbon. The PIDE, Soares, three women and a dictator.
Wednesday, March 22nd, 2023 | Articoli | Comments Off on 1965. Lisbon. The PIDE, Soares, three women and a dictator.
When I arrived in the sleepy, romantic city of Lisbon in 1965, at the age of 23, for my first foreign assignment, I never thought that one day the national airport would be named after the assassinated opposition leader (Humberto Delgado) and that a small-time defense lawyer named Mario Soares (later premier and president of Portugal) would take me to the scene of the crime.
Click here to read the full story published in Italian within the book “Pieces of History. From the Armistice to the Coronavirus. 48 events. 42 witnesses. Facts and Characters in the Tale of Agency Journalists” for Hoepli, edited by Cesare Protetti and Stefano Polli.
10 years as a member of the TEDx Rome Advisory Board
Monday, February 6th, 2023 | Articoli | Comments Off on 10 years as a member of the TEDx Rome Advisory Board
I have been a member of the TEDx Rome Advisory Board for ten years.
Find out more about my background and the composition of the team here.
A fateful appointment in November
Tuesday, November 8th, 2022 | Articoli | Comments Off on A fateful appointment in November
The world has an appointment on the morning of November 9: the respected 158-year-old Portuguese daily “Diario De Noticias” asked me to decrypt the crucial USA midterm elections.
Click here to read the article or here to download the pdf version of the article.