Foreign Correspondence

What drew so much media attention to Venezuela only a few years ago and why has it fizzled out? Stephen Gibbs ( @STHGIbbs ), a freelancer based in Caracas, tells us about covering the unrest and his encounters with Hugo Chavez and Maduro. As a former longtime BBC correspondent, Gibbs also talks about covering Cuba - including Castro revealing his relationship with Ernest Hemingway and a chance mee...

Writing a book isn’t easy, but James Griffiths ( @jgriffiths ) of Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail sure makes it look that way. Griffiths talks about getting his start in journalism in Shanghai and Hong Kong just as the Chinese government was ratcheting up censorship of the internet. That became the subject of his first book, which he wrote while also covering years of protests in Hong Kong....

Mitch Moxley ( @mitch_moxley ) talks about the world of book writing, agents and getting your magazine stories optioned by Hollywood.   Here are links to some of the things we talked about: Mitch's Rent a White Guy story for The Atlantic - https://bit.ly/39YlbwO His book Apologies to My Censors - https://amzn.to/3B64BqR His true crime story Knives Outback - https://bit.ly/3opBATu   Follow us on Tw...

Going viral. North Korea. Anthony Bourdain. Beijing Olympics. Long-form magazine journalism. Narrative non-fiction. Stage plays. Executive editor at Maxim. Mitch Moxley has done a lot of stuff. As a magazine editor and freelance writer, previously in China and now in New York City, Mitch tells us about his careers highs and disappointments, as well as the brutal realities of being a freelancer. Co...

The journalist’s holy trinity: the right time, the right place, the right beat. You’re lucky if you find it once in your career. Sue-Lin Wong ( @suelinwong ) tells how she thinks she hit it in the Hong Kong protests in 2019. Now working as a China correspondent for The Economist based in Hong Kong, she also has the unusual distinction of having been based in Shenzhen for years. Countries featured:...

Financial journalists don’t get the respect they deserve. Scottish journalist Jamie McGeever ( @ReutersJamie ) has traveled the world covering financial markets, including NYC, London, Madrid and all over Brazil and Europe. His work at Reuters put him at the center of the chaos of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Also discussed: bullfighting, Celtic football and the most charming world leaders. C...

Abdi Latif Dahir, The New York Times' East Africa Correspondent, talks more in-depth about his coverage of Rwanda and shares a special moment reporting in Mogadishu. This is a bonus content from FoCo's interview with Abdi. For the full interview, please check out episode 54. Note: Apologies that this is not the usually scheduled full episode that I normally release twice monthly. I will return to...

The long road to a Pulitzer. Now a Mexico-based reporter for Vice, Emily Green (@emilytgreen) has had a couple career booms and busts. The WSJ job that doesn't pan out leads her into radio reporting. The pandemic leads her to flee Mexico. But you never know, maybe you'll be sitting in your childhood bedroom and feeling sorry for yourself, when you get that call about the big award.  Countries feat...

Childhood journals lead to journalism. Abdi Latif Dahir ( @Lattif ) started journaling as a way to process the violence around him when, at 8 years old, his family returned to Somalia from Kenya. He tells us how that experience influences his reporting on conflicts as East Africa Correspondent for The New York Times. He also talks about his reporting on the recent arrest of the man portrayed in Ho...

An Editor-at-Large is not someone who is wanted for arrest by the police for crimes against journalism. Bryan Curtis (@bryancurtis) fills us in on what it means to be an Editor-at-Large for The Ringer, which includes hosting the popular media analysis podcast The Press Box. Countries featured: USA Publications featured: Nightline, The New Republic, Slate, The Daily Beast, The New York Times, Grant...

Patrick St. Michel ( @mbmelodies ) isn’t a professional foreigner, he just plays one on TV. As a freelance music and pop culture journalist, Patrick will take us inside the world of J Pop, K Pop, Japanese baseball and convenience store food. And yes, he’s willing to go see your band play in Thailand on less than 24 hours notice. Countries featured: Japan, USA, Thailand, South Korea Publications fe...

"Welcome to China, where nothing is allowed but everything is possible." Independent publisher Graham Earnshaw helped launch the careers of a generation of China journalists by giving them jobs at Reuters, Xinhua Finance or his own magazine China Economic Review. Working for Graham, host Jake Spring remembers a man surrounded in a mythology of old China adventures from earlier in his career. Now,...

"A love letter to journalists." A fitting description for the film Spotlight and possibly this podcast. For our 50th episode, we look back at the 2015 movie and hear views on the movie from eight past guests.     Guests in order of appearance: Ep. 3 - Camilla Costa, BBC, London ( @_camillacosta ) Ep. 9 - Brian Rosenthal, New York Times, New York ( @brianmrosenthal ) Ep. 20 - Terrence Edwards, Bloo...

Reporting in jungles isn't for the faint of heart. Rhett Butler, founder and editor-in-chief of environmental news website Mongabay, talks about getting stranded in a dangerous situation in Suriname, the many jungle diseases he has gotten, and some tips for getting phone signal in the rainforest. He also tells us the origins of Mongabay go back to books he started writing as a teenager and ended w...

Yes, sometimes film critics hurt people’s feelings. Alison Willmore ( @alisonwillmore ) will get into the nitty gritty of what it’s like to work as a critic from the demise of newspapers and the rise of the freelance critic to how New York mag has diversified its stable of critics.   Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by...

Zooming with Chloé Zhao - what could better typify the pandemic era? Alison Willmore ( @alisonwillmore ) takes us inside how she did her recent cover story for New York magazine about Zhao. We also hear about what it’s like to be a critic - from panning the remake of Mulan to championing foreign movies that get much less attention in the United States Countries featured: USA, UK Publications featu...

The podcast tradition of foreign correspondents getting ejected from countries continues. For Gerry Shih, China Correspondent for the Washington Post, there was the added twist of getting kicked out during a global pandemic. On the eve of his reassignment as WaPo’s India bureau chief, Gerry looks back at his time covering China, which he is convinced is now a bigger story than ever. Countries feat...

What do bagels and sexual harassment have in common? The food industry! Serena Dai ( @ssdai ), a senior features editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, has made her name by thinking and writing about all things food - emphasis on ALL THINGS - from the hilarious/inconsequential to the direly serious issues of sexual misconduct and racism. A local journalist in a previous life, she explains how food...

Deep in the jungle, Fabiano Maisonnave finds amazing stories to tell. He is the only correspondent for a major Brazilian newspaper to be based in the Amazon rainforest region. Long before he reported on remote Amazon tribes, Fabiano tells us about leaving his first assignment in farm country over death threats. He then sets off on a long period as a foreign correspondent, covering Latin America fr...

Prague, come for the theater, stay for the podcasting. Morgan Childs, co-host and producer of the Foreign Insiders podcast, tells us about getting her start reporting stories on food and “weird” Eastern Europe. She has now found a new professional life as an audio journalist, launching her podcast series on migration in the Czech Republic. Countries featured: USA, Poland, Ukraine, Liberland, Czech...

Jane Arraf ( @janearraf ) didn’t go seeking war, war came to her. She first moved to Iraq in 1997 under Saddam Hussein and was kicked out twice before returning when the U.S. invaded. She also bore witness to the carnage in Mosul in the wake of ISIS. Her reporting on conflict stands out for its humanity, vibrancy and - when possible - hope. She is now the Baghdad bureau chief of The New York Times...

Remember traveling? While you’re stuck inside in the pandemic, you can still travel far and wide thanks to the Far from Home podcast by public radio veteran Scott Gurian. Scott takes you along for the ride on one of the world’s epic road trips from London to Mongolia and back across the deserts of Iran and mountains of central Asia. The Peabody award winner talks about how a not-so-adventurous guy...

Sarah Esther Maslin explains what it's like to work at the Economist including the lack of bylines, its distinctive voice and viewpoint, and an unusual time when she broke some news.  Sarah’s story about the Amazon rainforest - http://econ.st/3oCdC3I Her story about the Honduras election - http://econ.st/3tbOXGL

We go deep on a history of Central American violence with Sarah Esther Maslin ( @sarahmaslin ). She discusses the years she’s spent reporting out a prospective book about Latin America’s largest modern massacre in El Salvador, stemming from her lifelong fascination with violent tragedies and the marks they leave on society. That project led her to freelance journalism and ultimately to Brazil with...

It turns out there’s a lot more to Russia than just Putin and election meddling. Sure, we talk about that, but independent radio producer Charles Maynes in Moscow tells us tales of Russian culture from the early Soviet era to present. While he may not always think of himself as a journalist, that may be what makes his journalism work so great. Also, in a first for the podcast, we hear a poetry rea...