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I joked that I wanted to write a durian piece 'cos all the English-language publications seem to be doing it. Here it is, as promised. I shared it late last night but just going to do it again now that it's Normal People Hours. https://wethecitizens.substack.com/p/a-defence-of-the-durian-by-one-who
Writing this piece was an opportunity to put into words some thoughts I've had about reporting, Othering, foreign correspondence. I didn't want to single out any particular article or video (although there are *loads* I could talk about), but think about practices in general.
I don't know how many non-journalists are interested in the discussion of whether 'foreign correspondence' is still A Thing; it's a subject I and other journos can talk about forever, w/o arriving at an answer besides "stop parachuting journos into contexts they don't understand"
I think there's great value in the skill of being able to introduce and explain something unfamiliar to audiences across the world. It's not easy to parse a complex situation and figure out just how much is necessary for comprehension.
I understand that part of the idea of foreign correspondence is to send someone from one society to a faraway place, where they can interpret/translate current affairs, lifestyles, cultures, etc. for their audiences back home. The foreign correspondent is meant to be the bridge.
But, as we scrutinise the concept with more criticality, we sometimes/often discover that this 'bridging' isn't really the translation we're looking for, but a practice (consciously done or not) of foreign gazes and Othering.
I don't think this means that we should get rid of all foreign correspondents. But newsrooms and outlets should be thinking harder about how they cover different countries and lives. I don't think this is something that can be fixed with diversity hires alone.
I wrote this durian piece as a Southeast Asian wanting to push back against the way foreign publications write about us and our lives, but a Singaporean is just as susceptible to Othering Thai or Indonesian or Burmese cultures, even though we're from the same region.
Diversity and representation is important, definitely. But the individuals who are hired and sent out to do stories also need to be constantly reflecting.
Perhaps it would be beneficial to if we did some of this reflecting openly too? I'm a big believer in giving the public insight (within reason) into how news is made and stories written.
