English reading

The next joint international seminar organised by the Venice Club and Cap’Com will take place on 6 and 7 May in Rome. The theme of this third edition will be “Synergies in communication on Europe: fostering civil society engagement and encouraging cooperation with the scientific community”.

Government communication professionals in Burkina Faso are being tasked with building ‘a powerful communication force’.

As states increasingly clash in the arena of information warfare, the Quai d’Orsay has embraced a new weapon on social media.

2026 may mark a tipping point for digital public communication. On the one hand, generative AI is rapidly embedding itself in our processes, promising unprecedented efficiency. On the other, a growing demand is emerging to regain control over our tools, data and sovereignty. How do we strike the right balance between these two forces? And what if this tension were not a problem, but rather a solution for the years ahead?

Following an audit of the Government Information Service, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has released a report on public communication in France. A macro-level perspective that highlights the need to evaluate communication.

A new chapter is opening for the French network for local public communication. After more than three years of publishing articles in English, Cap’Com has launched its own LinkedIn newsletter – and uncovered a whole new audience. Designed to exchange good practices and explore emerging trends, the content aims to build a shared culture of public communication that extends well beyond national borders.

“The professions of communication, in both the public and private sectors, reveal how communication itself is perceived and valued in our societies.” Following the publication of Radioscopie des communicants publics – a study that profiles public communicators and tracks how the profession is evolving – Dominique Wolton analyses the changing nature of communication, “less focused on ‘comms’ and more attuned to the complexity of today’s societies.”

Today, decisions to relocate are more carefully considered and are part of a long-term lifestyle change, in which community ties and local convenience are key factors. This is highlighted in the ‘Paris, I’m Leaving You’ study (Bastille, 2025). But how can we respond to the new aspirations of French people seeking a new place to live? Here’s a look at three drivers of attractiveness identified in the study, along with possible avenues for communicators to explore.

Transport for London (TfL) has launched a hard-hitting campaign urging passengers who witness aggressive behaviour or harassment on its network to step in safely. The initiative, released during the UK’s National Hate Crime Awareness Week, encourages bystanders to defuse situations by actively supporting the victim rather than confronting the aggressor.

Philosopher and author Emma Carenini explores the power of storytelling in our fragmented societies. For her, telling a story isn’t just an art of expression – it’s a way to shape the world. In this interview, she discusses the role of the public communicator as a modern “griot” – a contemporary storyteller, inspired by the West African tradition, who preserves collective memory and rebuilds social bonds through narrative and a deep understanding of reality. It’s a reflection on the power of the ‘meta-narrative’, at the intersection of mythology, truth and action.

It was the first weekend of October. Le Mans was buzzing, the internet was red-hot and 1.4 million young people were glued to the GP Explorer. Two days of racing that seriously challenged my usual bearings as a public communicator.

Every year, local media gather in Nantes for the Local News Festival (FIL) to share their insights and best practices. For territorial communicators – central players in their local media ecosystem – these two days are a treasure trove of inspiration. From hands-on insights on AI and video trends to the shifting landscape of local news, plus strategies to tackle information fatigue ahead of a major local election… we catch the “feel” of the 2025 edition to bring fresh ideas to local authorities.

Too often overlooked or criticised, the international work of local authorities plays a far more important role than many realise. To ensure it is understood and supported, public communication must help make its purpose, impact and added value visible.

The Club of Venice convened in London on the 12 and 13 March 2025. The representatives of EU public communication were joined by academics, diplomats, journalists and institutional leaders to debate an issue faced by one and all: how to communicate in a time of crisis when the very notion of truth has become a subject of controversy. Natalie Maroun took the floor on behalf of the Cap'Com network in the session “Preparing for a Crisis” to explain why we can no longer respond to crises as we did in the past. Here are some of the insights she shared.

At the Plumes d’excellence 2025 gala, the equivalent of the Cap’Com Grands Prix in Quebec, the city of Saint-Charles-Borromée won two prizes: the Plume d’or in the digital communication category, and most importantly the highest distinction, the Grande Plume 2025, for his children’s day-care centre application.

Every year, the Deauville Green Awards – International festival of eco-responsible film – spotlight the power of images and stories to foster environmental, economic and social transitions. From animation technique to the popularisation of science, we look back over three effective, hard-hitting productions entered in the 14th edition, in which Cap’Com took part as member of the jury.

Of the many changes of logo or visual identity recorded in the communities since 2020, my own monitoring effort identified similar initiatives in nearly 45 towns in Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Canada. Let’s observe a selection of logos of French-speaking towns that are particularly interesting because of both their initiatives and their results. These examples could be sources of inspiration for future changes of identity following the upcoming elections. 🙂

He applies a project-management method drawn from his industrial engineering background and turns it into a major asset: on the shop floor, he asks everyone for their opinion, then calls on a team to impart a new regional dynamic. We met Eddy Métivier, the mayor of Matane, on the banks of the Saint-Laurent in Quebec.

On 15 May 2025, the WBCOM’ network held its Rencontres de la com communication symposium on “Reinventing AI: new tools, and recent and future developments”. Advances in the field roll by at breakneck speed, and with four speakers from a varied backgrounds, the Association of Belgian Francophone communicators, which is partnered with Cap’Com, painted a picture that resonated equally well with cyborgs as with centaurs (see Cap'Com AI 2024 infographic).

On one hand, local authorities construct place branding strategies to leverage their attractiveness and the feeling of belonging to their territory. On the other hand, commercial brands construct a locally-based imaginary world, using advertising approaches that, in recent years, have latched onto the “local” factor. Shouldn’t we be factoring in these imaginary worlds put out by the brands?