Foreign Correspondence is a podcast that brings you hour-long interviews with journalists around the world hosted by Jake Spring.
Episodes
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
Sunday Nov 15, 2020
Ode to a Grecian journ(alist). Family looms large in this episode with Joanna Kakissis (@joannakakissis), a correspondent in Athens for National Public Radio, whose Greek parents instilled in her the importance of their culture from a young age. She made a mark early in her career as part of a Pulitzer finalist newspaper reporting team before returning to her roots in Greece where she has reported for more than a decade.
Countries featured: Turkey, USA, Greece
Publications featured: The News & Observer, Boston Globe, Time magazine, The New York Times, NPR
Joanna discusses growing up as the only Greeks in small town North Dakota (4:43), her trajectory from college to NPR (16:12), her newspaper coverage of a hurricane in North Carolina that taught her not to exoticize her subjects (23:00), why she took a risk to cover the Athens Olympics for the Boston Globe and became a freelance foreign correspondent (28:46), her broader European coverage (35:00), a story that got away about a Syrian doctor in Germany who killed the piece for fear for his family (38:58), her series for NPR on Uighurs in Turkey (44:28) and the lightning round (54:45).
Here are links to some of the things we talked about:
Joanna talks about covering the European migrant crisis - https://n.pr/3kAnokS
Part 1 of Joanna’s Uighur in Turkey series - https://n.pr/32GhJ6T
Part 2 - https://n.pr/3kw8X1e
Part 3 - https://n.pr/3eYpDxg
NPR’s Radiolab - https://bit.ly/36BmsaX
NPR’s Rough Translation podcast - https://n.pr/2ZXvzRo
NYT’s The Jungle Prince of Delhi - https://nyti.ms/39hXIUR
NYT Cooking mapo tofu recipe - https://nyti.ms/2IAUIuP
Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers - https://amzn.to/2UpGXSm
Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod
Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats
From: freemusicarchive.org
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
Sunday Nov 01, 2020
As a journalist, who you are matters. Freelance journalist Fariba Nawa (@faribanawa) tells how she learned this the hard way. But her identity, that early in her career may have hindered her, has turned into a strength. She has gone from refugee to a reporter who covers refugees. She is an Afghan American proud of her heritage who also struggles with its deep patriarchy. Now setting her sights on podcasting, she discusses launching On Spec podcast that seeks to lift up less-heard global stories.
Countries featured: Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, USA, Turkey
Publications featured: AFP, New Yorker, The Argus, Refinery29, PRI’s The World, Pacific News Service
Fariba discusses fleeing Afghanistan at age 9 (4:48), navigating her family with a deep writing tradition but rooted in a patriarchal Afghan community (15:42), a shaky experience trying to break into foreign reporting that takes her to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran (31:18), going to grad school at NYU just as 9/11 happens and thrusts her back into reporting on Afghanistan (40:12), getting kicked out of Pakistan (47:12), writing her book Opium Nation (53:22), her freelance work on feminism in Turkey and starting OnSpec podcast (1:10:52) and ends on the lightning round (1:19:02).
Here are links to some of the things we talked about:
On Spec podcast - https://apple.co/3e4xA3q
Fariba’s book Opium Nation - https://amzn.to/3ovp5mS
Her TEDx talk - https://bit.ly/3oAHUFl
Her piece on the rise of divorce in Turkey - https://bit.ly/37WB5YG
Her Refinery29 on Afghan feminism - https://r29.co/383vGzp
Her story on a teenager raped by her smuggler - https://bit.ly/3jDSt71
Heavyweight podcast episode “Scott” - https://apple.co/2Jg5Y06
Jon Lee Anderson on Twitter - https://bit.ly/2TvA1mp
Kim Barker’s book Taliban Shuffle - https://amzn.to/35N1OnS
Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod
Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats
From: freemusicarchive.org
Sunday Oct 18, 2020
Sunday Oct 18, 2020
A very special election episode! Libby Nelson (@libbyanelson) talks to us about how she is approaching U.S. presidential election coverage as Senior Deputy Policy Editor at Vox. As you may well have guessed, covering this election has turned out to be very different than we could have predicted. Libby also talks about how she came to work for journalism startups, becoming one of Vox’s first few employees when the website was still just an idea.
Countries featured: USA
Publications featured: The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, The Scranton Times-Tribune, Politico, Vox, The Daily Northwestern
Libby discusses being raised by two newspaper journalists in Kansas (5:05), burning out at Northwestern University's daily newspaper (11:52), interning at NYT at the depth of the financial crisis (21:53), transitioning from newspapers to the trades to startups (25:39), joining Vox when it was just an idea (39:12), become an editor (46:01), election coverage (48:17), the killer profile encapsulating Obama's education policy that never happened (57:42), her story about a conservative faction taking over a religious college in Georgia (1:04:19), working with reporters on a global story about healthcare (1:08:51) and finally the lightning round (1:14:24)
Here are links to some of the things we talked about:
Libby’s story on a religious college takeover - https://bit.ly/375OY6t
Vox story on how healthcare works globally - https://bit.ly/3k0AwAq
In the Dark podcast - https://apple.co/2GYGUdc
Wind of Change podcast - https://apple.co/352Bg1y
NYT story on Trump’s taxes - https://nyti.ms/2SRuBlk
The Hour on IMDb - https://imdb.to/3drIYGo
Linda Greenhouse NYT stories - https://nyti.ms/3k0K8uT
Nina Totenberg NPR stories - https://n.pr/3nOoIU5
Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod
Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats
From: freemusicarchive.org
Monday Oct 05, 2020
Monday Oct 05, 2020
What’s this? There’s more? We talk in-depth about his job helping shape the visual language of The New York Times and his approach to video journalism, as well as an offbeat story set in North Korea that never quite happened.
Countries featured: North Korea, USA
Jonah's short doc about zoonotic diseases - https://nyti.ms/2F0fOkS
Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod
Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats
From: freemusicarchive.org
Sunday Oct 04, 2020
Sunday Oct 04, 2020
Gen X photo bum finds journalism, makes good. Well, ok, there’s about 15 more steps in the middle that leaves out. And like 60+ countries. Jonah Kessel (@jonah_kessel) is proof that the right camera can change someone’s life. Now at The New York Times, he is constantly trying to push the limits of what video and visuals can do, even when those limits are the visible spectrum of light.
Countries featured: China, USA, Algeria, Hong Kong
Publications featured: Burlington Free Press, Tahoe Daily Tribune, La Voix de l'Oranie, Sawt Al Gharb ( صوت الغرب ), China Daily, The New York Times
Jonah discusses growing up in Vermont (6:24), dropping out of Tulane University to wander the U.S. for 3 years (9:58), going back to school for journalism...in three different countries (14:10), sweet-talking his way into a job at a Lake Tahoe newspaper (19:14), working in Algeria as a newspaper consultant (26:54), being recruited to redesign the China daily (29:32), the glory days freelancing and joining the NYT in not-so-old Beijing (35:28), an exit from China that was complicated in terms of his visa and medically (49:58), the insane plane-flying, ice-cold-camera-sensor shooting behind the groundbreaking NYT story about methane leaks (1:01:36) and the lightning round (1:11:13)
Here are links to some of the things we talked about:
Jonah's first NYT piece on Zhao Liang (scroll half way down for video) - https://nyti.ms/33qmFNQ
Jonah’s NYT project on methane emissions - https://nyti.ms/33qV0wg
How he did the methane story - https://nyti.ms/3inP6jO
The Social Dilemma on Netflix - https://bit.ly/3d3bfTt
Nicholas Kristof on Twitter - https://bit.ly/2HKJtiX
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on Amazon - https://amzn.to/2Spb2k2
Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod
Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats
From: freemusicarchive.org
Sunday Sep 20, 2020
Sunday Sep 20, 2020
A love story between Cuban spies. Jungle warfare in Central America. A military coup in Chile. A roller coaster relationship with Fidel Castro. Lucia Newman, Latin America Editor and a Senior Correspondent in Chile for Al Jazeera English, has seen and reported on it all over several decades covering the region, dodging more than a few bullets along the way.
Countries featured: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cuba, Chile, Argentina, Panama, Mexico, USA, Australia, Haiti
Publications featured: CNN, Al Jazeera
Lucia discusses how she covers all of Latin America during the pandemic (3:02), her childhood with a Chilean diplomat mother and American journalist father who made it all look so glamorous (9:55), moving back to Chile for college just as a military coup kicks off and forces her to hide out (12:43), a stint in Australia (19:08), working for CNN and others covering war in Central America (21:48), nine - often tense - years living in Cuba (37:34) revealing Cuban spies in the U.S. that earned her a portrayal in a Netflix movie (42:53), covering tragedy in Haiti (1:02:50), uncovering housing corruption in Cuba (1:06:02) and the lightning round (1:10:52).
Here are links to some of the things we talked about:
Lucia’s latest reporting for Al Jazeera - https://bit.ly/32M0eCu
Her story on Iran in Venezuela - https://bit.ly/2HhkTGn
Her interview with Cuban spy Gerardo Hernandez - https://bit.ly/33Ptd7Y
Wasp Network movie on Netflix - https://bit.ly/3cczrlQ
Jon Lee Anderson interview with Patricio Fernández (in Spanish) - https://bit.ly/3iPc8B9
Propublica's Zero Tolerance series story on U.S. immigration - https://bit.ly/3cfNdV5
Interview with History by Oriana Fallaci - https://amzn.to/32LCDlj
How I Got that Story book - https://bit.ly/2ElUAOc
Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod
Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats
From: freemusicarchive.org
Sunday Sep 06, 2020
Sunday Sep 06, 2020
What do you do when there's a pandemic on, but you are a video journalist with no choice but to go out to capture the images you need? Atish Patel (@atishpatel, Insta: atishp) a videographer for Agence France-Presse discusses the calculations he makes when deciding whether to go out. He also talks about how being fired helped him to change his perspective and have more fun with his job.
Countries featured: India, UK, Russia, Rwanda
Publications featured: RT, Reuters, AFP, AP, Wall Street Journal
Atish discusses going into a hospital ICU to report on coronavirus (3:20), growing up in the UK and finding his way into a journalism post-grad program (10:08), moving to Russia to work in the very controlling environment of Kremlin mouthpiece RT (15:50), moving to India to work for Reuters with grand ambitions and getting fired (19:58), making it work in India as a freelancer (25:02), a trip to report on children of rape in Rwanda that didn't quite come together (31:55), his current work in India for AFP (39:48), covering naked holy men during the massive Kumbh Mela Hindu religious festival (42:24), his family's background in Africa and India (47:19) and the lightning round (50:52)
Here are links to some of the things we talked about:
Atish's story on ICUs in India amid the pandemic - https://bit.ly/2EVWqFQ
Jake's story on world's largest wetland on fire - https://reut.rs/3lUEWtV
His story on fires in the Amazon rainforest - https://reut.rs/3jOrZA4
A clip of Atish's work on the Kumbh Mela religious festival - https://bit.ly/2QUUHD0
One of his story's on pollution - https://bit.ly/2F5GNeK
India's LiveMint - https://bit.ly/3i9X2Gg
The Breakfast Club radio show - https://ihr.fm/322j9Zp
CBC podcast Hunting Warhead - https://bit.ly/3m2ER7N
Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod
Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats
From: freemusicarchive.org
Sunday Aug 23, 2020
Sunday Aug 23, 2020
What insanity inspires 20,000 normal people to run 56 miles (90 kilometers) every year in South Africa? Ryan Lenora Brown (@ryanlenorabrown) tells us how Apartheid helped make this race a phenomenon. She talks about trying to tell stories that don’t revert to stereotypes of Africa, even as we ponder the ethics of white foreigners reporting on South Africa or Latin America.
Countries featured: South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Publications featured: Runner’s World, Christian Science Monitor
Ryan discusses venturing out for a story during the pandemic (4:57), how journalism helped her conquer her shyness (8:11), how the Fulbright program brought her to South Africa (12:17), becoming an intern churning out content for Chrisitian Science Monitor (14:38), giving up a fellowship in Asia to move to South Africa as a freelancer (20:50), what is the Christian Science Monitor anyway (36:06), the Eritrean soccer team defecting to Botswana (40:00), an anthropologist who bought beer on the WHO’s dime to help confront the Ebola crisis (43:24), the ultramarathon (50:47), how a racial reckoning has yet to come for foreign correspondents (57:27), and finally the lightning round (1:03:52)
Here are links to some of the things we talked about:
Ryan’s story on the 99th day of South Africa’s pandemic - https://bit.ly/2FLCRjn
The Luce Fellowship - https://bit.ly/32ibZ1X
Ryan’s story Congo Ebola crisis: To fight disease, an anthropologist heals distrust - https://bit.ly/3gisT5P
Her article on the Comrades ultramarathon - https://bit.ly/2ErxTHU
Her story on the reading runner - https://bit.ly/2CQQvRj
South Africa’s Mail and Guardian - https://bit.ly/2QiaCe8
By the Book podcast - https://apple.co/3j3DiUC
WaPo’s The Lives Upended Around a $20 Cheeseburger - https://wapo.st/3lbs3eM
Ryan’s book A Native of Nowhere - https://amzn.to/2QjezPH
The Writers' Co-op podcast - https://apple.co/3hy2nqc
Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod
Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats
From: freemusicarchive.org
Sunday Aug 09, 2020
Sunday Aug 09, 2020
Bopha Phorn (@bophaphorn) tells of hunting down a Russian pedophile and fearing for her life as she reported on deforestation in Cambodia. The International Women’s Media Foundation has honored her brave reporting with its Courage in Journalism Award. Bopha now reports for Voice of America’s Khmer language edition, a rare source of unrestricted news as Cambodia increasingly stifles press freedoms.
Countries featured: Cambodia, USA
Publications featured: Cambodia Daily, Asian Correspondent, Associated Press, ABC News, Voice of America, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA)
Bopha discusses how seeing a movie at a pagoda as a child inspired her to be a journalist (5:42), how a string of unlikely connections led to her first internship at German wire service DPA (13:18), starting at the Cambodia Daily and grappling with the problems it created with her family (20:47), the harrowing story that led her to receive the IWMF's Courage in Journalism Award (32:44), moving to the U.S. to study, work for the AP and as a science journalist for ABC News (39:48), VOA's role in an increasingly restricted media environment (46:55), her "story that got away" about a Cambodian-American fraud scheme (50:34), her story on hunting down a Russian pedophile in Cambodia (53:21) and finally the lightning round (1:03:31).
Here are links to some of the things we talk about:
Bopha’s english language work for VOA - https://bit.ly/3fFOR2f
Video of Bopha accepting the IWMF Courage in Journalism award - https://bit.ly/3kkmcDv
Bopha’s story tracking down Russian pedophile - https://bit.ly/3gFGIwb
Her story on the pedophile’s arrest - https://bit.ly/31C6tqC
Her story on the larger problem of pedophelia in Cambodia - https://bit.ly/30Gr91z
Rachel Aviv at The New Yorker - https://bit.ly/31qNMWM
Refinery29 video "The Dark Secret Behind Your Favorite Makeup Products" - https://bit.ly/3fF4Z3W
Associated Press story “One meal a day: Yemeni mothers try to feed their families” - https://bit.ly/2DBcSud
On Writing Well by William Zinsser - https://bit.ly/3gRM0EA
Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod
Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats
From: freemusicarchive.org
Sunday Jul 26, 2020
Sunday Jul 26, 2020
The Feel Good Episode of the Year! Bangladeshi photographer Ismail Ferdous (IG: ismailferdous) went from borrowing money to pay for a camera to his first paid project being published in the New Yorker. He lays out his philosophy of seeking the work that speaks to him and working on personal projects without thinking of where it will be published. Now a freelancer in New York City, he’s been published in a slew of big name publications and regularly works for National Geographic. We also discuss his experience with catching COVID-19.
Countries featured: Bangladesh, Syria, Turkey, United States
Publications featured: National Geographic, New Yorker, AP, New York Times, Instagram
Ismail discusses photographing the George Floyd BLM protests (4:34), his experience falling sick with COVID-19 (8:25), growing up in Bangladesh and discovering photography (16:16), his family’s eventual acceptance of his job as a photographer (26:04), his work on the deadly collapse of the Rana Plaza sweatshop (31:26), stories that never came together on HIV patients in Bangladesh and Syrian refugees (48:07), the rigorous process that is doing a story for NatGeo (54:10) and the lightning round (1:05:35).
Here are links to some of the things we talked about:
Ismail’s work on climate change for New Yorker - https://bit.ly/2WY7ZSx
Ismail’s documentary The Deadly Cost of Fashion in New York Times - https://nyti.ms/2CONlxd
After Rana Plaza on Instagram - https://bit.ly/2WX4UCf
After Rana Plaza website - https://bit.ly/39uMQ7K
His NatGeo story on South Asian Americans - https://on.natgeo.com/3hALfjj
NPR podcast Rough Translation - https://n.pr/2ZXvzRo
John Berger’s book Ways of Seeing - https://amzn.to/2CE7xSI
Satyajit Ray wiki bio - https://bit.ly/2WTFi9u
The Opiod Diaries in Time magazine - https://bit.ly/2BAJ2VW
The documentary War Photographer - https://bit.ly/2D1nXEl
Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod
Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats
From: freemusicarchive.org