diff --git a/weboob/tools/capabilities/messages/GenericBackend.py b/weboob/tools/capabilities/messages/GenericBackend.py
index 47067c38..3f6012de 100644
--- a/weboob/tools/capabilities/messages/GenericBackend.py
+++ b/weboob/tools/capabilities/messages/GenericBackend.py
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ class GenericNewspaperBackend(BaseBackend, ICapMessages):
             date=thread.date,
             parent=None,
             content=content.body,
-            signature='<a href="%s">URL</a> \n' % content.url,
+            signature= u'<a href="%s">URL</a> \n' % content.url,
             flags=flags,
             children=[])
         return thread
diff --git a/weboob/tools/capabilities/messages/genericArticle.py b/weboob/tools/capabilities/messages/genericArticle.py
index f27eb678..c877e9bd 100644
--- a/weboob/tools/capabilities/messages/genericArticle.py
+++ b/weboob/tools/capabilities/messages/genericArticle.py
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class GenericNewsPage(BasePage):
 
     def get_title(self):
         try:
-            return self.parser.select(
+            return u'%s' % self.parser.select(
                 self.main_div,
                 self.element_title_selector,
                 1).text_content().strip()