THE EPO would be in very serious trouble if there was oversight and if someone was capable of firing management on the spot. The expensive publicity stunt which took place yesterday was a continental (not just national) embarrassment. Does Europe want thugs and madmen like Battistelli and his right-hand bulldog Željko Topić to represent it? What has this planet sunk to?
"Does Europe want thugs and madmen like Battistelli and his right-hand bulldog Željko Topić to represent it?"The event distorted European media and even US media like CNN. It helped demonstrate that 'news' is basically up for sale and Battistelli can just 'buy' the news without scrutiny, just as he allegedly 'buys' votes (cooperation money, see article above). Authoritarian, totalitarian, corrupt or whatever... these are the words that nowadays get used to describe the EPO, which relies on its reputation for survival (justifying the high cost of patent applications and renewals).
Battistelli's silly festival did not attract media attention. It bought media. There are some puff pieces coming out of it (not many [1, 2]), and they are mentioning Battistelli in relation to the president whom he lobbied. That's what it was all about: lobbying. The sideshow was some trophies (like high society swapping medals for mutual honour and self-congratulatory symbols) and it helped launder/paint this whole charade with the "science" brush.
"Authoritarian, totalitarian, corrupt or whatever... these are the words that nowadays get used to describe the EPO, which relies on its reputation for survival (justifying the high cost of patent applications and renewals)."Watch those who are (or have been) preparing European Inventor Award puff pieces. Do they realise they're being exploited by the likes of Battistelli, who delusionally thinks that he's some kind of modern-age Nobel (recall what he said to the sponsored crowd yesterday)?
The whole thing was staged. It was corny, lame, and above all expensive and corrosive to European journalism. I never received a dime for my articles about the EPO, but some media organisations that were hired as "media partners" are estimated to have just received millions of Euros (or just over a million, it's hard to tell for sure due to Battistelli's notorious secrecy).
"The whole thing was staged."Battistelli handing over a "European Inventor of the Year" award is like Miss Universe doing this. Battistelli is not a scientist, he is just megalomaniac bully whose employees hate him with a passion.
The EPO's PR drones, who must be blindly loyal to Battistelli, were very busy yesterday (they are relatively quiet today). They played along with the script [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. They probably know (deep inside at least) that today's EPO, under Battistelli's regime in particular, is built on top of a colossal pack of lies (or "PR") and attacks on people who dare say the obvious truths (using defamatory remarks against these people). But then again, they need to pay the mortgage, so they play along, as does Battistelli's friend in the UK (who is notorious here not just for taking distant selfies with Battistelli but for sucking up to Monarchy).
"Battistelli handing over a "European Inventor of the Year" award is like Miss Universe doing this."The EPO's winner ceremonies lasted no longer than an hour [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13] and the PR people captured some responses [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] (there were not so many), but how much did this whole charade cost? Some estimates say 3-7 million Euros. For just a few hours! What's even more disturbing, as we shall show in our next post, is that this whole charade distorted the European press, including some British media. ⬆