Foreign Correspondence

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.

Countries featured: Brazil, Scotland, England, Spain, USA

Publications featured: Dow Jones, Reuters

Jamie discusses moving from his native Scotland to Brazil to teach English out of university (5:53), bullfighting and Ernest Hemingway (8:28), being thrown in the deep end of journalist at the Dow Jones news wire in Rio de Janeiro (14:02), an extremely rapid succession of jobs and moves that eventually take him to Reuters and Wall Street (19:49), the 2008 financial crisis as the story of a lifetime (27:25), why he's such a big deal on Twitter (36:56), his stint in TV news (43:51), switching from the news side to being a columnist (56:21), a story that got away about possible financial wrongdoing (1:01:40) and finally the lightning round(1:05:30).

Here are links to some of the things we talked about:

Jamie's Reuters columns - https://reut.rs/3noQGrL

Toros Twitter account - https://bit.ly/2XgBGBI

Daniel Dale on Twitter - https://bit.ly/3A6F00i

John King on Twitter - https://bit.ly/3hpsIca

Clarissa Ward on Twitter - https://bit.ly/3EcelSb

The Football Men documentary part 1 - https://bit.ly/3hl4u2z

The Thick of It on IMDb - https://imdb.to/3ntqNHl

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Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats

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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 our normal programming in a couple of weeks.

Here are links to some of the things we talked about:

Abdi's jail house interview with Paul Rusesabagina - https://nyti.ms/2VnhIUu

His main story on Paul Rusesabagina - https://nyti.ms/3rIYHb6

His story on artists in Mogadishu - https://bit.ly/3j4ZpNj

The book spawned from the above article - https://amzn.to/3z5g20J

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Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats

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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 featured: Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, Philippines, USA

Publications featured: NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The San Francisco Chronicle, PRI’s The World, The Daily Beast, Vice News

Emily discusses going to the Philippines on a Fulbright grant after college (5:00), the wrong job at WSJ leads to working in hometown radio then Sacramento then the SF Chronicle (12:21), moving to Mexico to freelance (19:57), some lessons for freelancers (27:18), how a Vice story on a migrant kidnapping in Mexico led to an NPR piece that won a Pulitzer (34:00), a couple of stories that got away (47:35), a short doc for Vice on the massacre of migrants in Mexico after they were deported from the U.S. (50:24) and the lightning round (58:20).

Here are links to some of the things we talked about:

Emily's WaPo story on a Filipino judge - https://wapo.st/3sdDTsC

Her first story in Vice on the migrant caravan - https://bit.ly/3iK85bF

Her original story on Nuevo Laredo kidnapping for Vice - https://bit.ly/3AL64Cr

Her Pulitzer winning audio story -  https://bit.ly/3AF5Dt3

Pulitzer winner page for the story - https://bit.ly/2UgJOR7

Her Vice doc on Guatemalan deportees killed in Mexico - https://bit.ly/37IVXkQ

Day X podcast - https://nyti.ms/3lWTDzc

Lisa Hagen's podcast on guns - https://n.pr/2UftUGG

Jon Lee Anderson's ride along with Chavez - https://bit.ly/2VVD0Zu

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Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats

From: freemusicarchive.org

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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 Hotel Rwanda, as well as his passion for running.

Countries featured: Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan, Rwanda, USA

Publications featured: Quartz, UPI, The Daily Nation, The New York Times

Abdi talks about growing up in Mogadishu (7:17), moving back to Kenya for university and to get his start in journalism (15:40), why his parents moved from peaceful Kenya to war-torn Somalia and how it influences his reporting on conflicts (31:36), going to Columbia J-school and working for Quartz (41:45), getting hired for a dream job at The New York Times (50:53), a profile that Abdi wasn't able to do after the death of the subject (56:14), his reporting on the arrest of Rwanda's Paul Rusesabagina (1:05:32) and finally the lightning round (1:15:00).

Here are like to some of the things we talked about:

Abdi's story on the death of a Somali entrepreneur - https://bit.ly/3li0FhG

His interview with Rwanda's Paul Rusesabagina in jail - https://nyti.ms/2VnhIUu

His full story about Rusesabagina - https://nyti.ms/3rIYHb6

The China Africa Project - https://bit.ly/3lhjmSz

The Continent - https://bit.ly/3ie3UEM

Nipe Story podcast - https://apple.co/3xg35zF

CBC's Writers and Company podcast - https://apple.co/2VkEk87

Learning to Swim Taught Me More Than I Bargained for - https://nyti.ms/2WHY724

House of Stone by Anthony Shadid - https://amzn.to/3ibyMWy

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Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats

From: freemusicarchive.org

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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, Grantland, The Ringer

Bryan discusses how he started writing about sports in middle school upon realizing he’d never be a pro athlete (5:40), early internships at Nightline and The New Republic plus a first job at Slate (11:17), a huge opportunity at an ill-fated New York Times sports magazine (18:52), Tina Brown scoops him up for the launch of The Daily Beast (22:28), getting in on the ground level of Grantland and The Ringer (27:17), whether he is a “sports journalist” (35:17), how he started The Press Box podcast (38:00), his story on why the Oklahoma City Thunder players were so combative with reporters (48:30) and the lightning round featuring George Lucas (54:45).

Here are like to some of the things we talked about:

Bryan’s “The Old Guy’s Still Got It” story - https://bit.ly/2Up4aI3

His story on the OKC Thunder vs the media - https://bit.ly/3wMO1t5

BBC’s In Our Time podcast - https://apple.co/3irZt8u

Tom Junod’s “The Hero of Goodall Park” - https://es.pn/3z8zfyf

Bryan’s profile of George Lucas - https://nyti.ms/3etDrkp

Broadcast News on IMDb - https://imdb.to/3z951Lz

Humphrey Bogart’s Deadline U.S.A. on IMDb - https://imdb.to/3xPEt1E

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Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats

From: freemusicarchive.org

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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 featured: The Japan Times, The Atlantic, Pitchfork, Make Believe Melodies

Patrick discusses growing up in a town with more horses than people (6:13), founding the publication North by Northwestern in college (12:25), moving to Japan to teach English in a small town (22:52), starting a blog about Japanese music and breaking into journalism (31:04), the promise and peril of writing "Weird Japan" articles (43:28), his "story that got away" seeking to profile a Korean musician trying to become a crossover star (49:07), his profile of Japanese music legend Mariya Takeuchi (56:54), and finally the lightning round (1:03:31) featuring an unexpected trip to Thailand (1:09:27) and Japanese baseball (1:19:11).

Here are links to some of the things we talked about:

Make Believe Melodies blog archive - https://bit.ly/3xgzhDQ

Bagel heads - https://bit.ly/3ycgJom

Patrick's Atlantic story on "Weird Japan" - https://bit.ly/3hALRaa

New Republic dissection of New Yorker's failed Weird Japan article - https://bit.ly/3hb6afA

Patrick's story on Korean Pop conquering Japan - https://bit.ly/3AoZWjQ

CL on wikipedia - https://bit.ly/2Umto9w

Plastic Love by Mariya Takeuchi - https://bit.ly/3xfFHmx

Patrick's profile of Takeuchi - https://bit.ly/2V52weF

Japan Times' Recultured podcast - https://bit.ly/3xfgby0

Dough Boys podcast - https://apple.co/3jFqgA5

The Atlantic's The War on Bollywood - https://bit.ly/3ym6OfS

Patrick's story about the band Slot Machine - https://bit.ly/3hy1XBB

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Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats

From: freemusicarchive.org

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"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, Graham lays out on-the-record some of his wildest stories as one of the first Western journalists allowed into China as it opened up in 1979.

Countries featured: UK, Australia, China, Japan

Publications featured: Reuters, China Economic Review, Xinhua Finance, The Daily Telegraph

Graham discusses his upbringing in Australia as the son of a newspaperman (7:06), moving to China with Reuters in 1979 and immediately getting a big scoop on the Democracy Wall (10:31), China's attempts to surveil and control  foreign journalists in the 1980s and how little it has changed since then (18:20), giving his minders the slip to witness a Tibetan sky burial (27:19), reporting from Tiananmen square in 1989 (37:46), getting out of journalism to run businesses like Xinhua Finance and China Economic Review (41:50), his hiring Jake and many other journalists to work at CER (53:42), his walk across China (59:50), the early days of live music and nightlife in China (1:06:03) and finally the lightning round (1:13:53).

Here are links to some of the things we talked about:

Jonathan Kos-Read's novel The Eunuch - https://amzn.to/3q85YAE

Graham's account of a Tibetan sky burial - https://bit.ly/3xBeECe

His account of covering Tiananmen in 1989 - https://bit.ly/3cQfLWw

His book The Great Walk of China - https://amzn.to/3xzorZj

His music on Soundcloud - https://bit.ly/3cSRY8z

Jamil Anderlini's "Western companies succumb to Stockholm Syndrome" - https://on.ft.com/2SgtBum

Nick Macfie's novel Hadley - https://amzn.to/35ArTqC

George Morrison wiki bio - https://bit.ly/3wLyhY3

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Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats

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"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, Bloomberg, Mongolia (@TerryReports)

Ep. 21 - Paul Schrodt, Freelance, Los Angeles (@paulschrodt)

Ep. 22 - Megha Rajagopalan, BuzzFeed News, London (@meghara)

Ep. 24 - Aarti Betigeri, Freelance, Australia (@pomegranitaa)

Ep. 27 - Ed Clowes, formerly The Telegraph (@EdClowes)

Ep. 38 - Joanna Kakissis, NPR, Greece (@joannakakissis)

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Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats

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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 with an empire of sites in a dozen different languages.

Countries featured: Madagascar, Indonesia, Brazil, Suriname, Ecuador, USA

Publications featured: Mongabay

Rhett discusses his fascination with animals and tropical rainforests as a kid (5:32), writing books on tropical fish and rainforests as a teenage (8:32), quitting his day job to launch the Mongabay news service (16:12), running a news website and trying to find phone signal in the forest (22:00), launching Mongabay's Indonesian version as the site turned into a non-profit (25:11), trends in environmental news (37:45), a reporting trip in China that ran afoul of authorities (46:55), his story on Madagascar rosewood deforestation that led the president to call him a bastard (50:03) and the lightning round (57:22)

Here are links to some of the things we talked about:

Mongabay home page - https://www.mongabay.com

Donate to Mongabay - https://mongabay.org/donate/

Global Forest Watch - https://bit.ly/3hSePnR

Rhett's story on Madagascar rosewood - https://bit.ly/3v9p3Ed

Grist - https://bit.ly/3wvmM6K

Behind the Bastards podcast - https://apple.co/3fIRQc2

Bellingcat investigative journalism - https://bit.ly/3viBopy

The Killing Fields movie on IMDb - https://imdb.to/2OjcC4t

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Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats

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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.

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Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats

From: freemusicarchive.org

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