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By Rich Read, international trade writer, The
Oregonian, Portland
Editors and reporters need to define carefully
what they want when a staff member goes abroad on an assignment. Reporting
abroad is many times more challenging than reporting at home. Overnight
the reporter goes from being a known entity to being a disoriented illiterate
mute in a foreign culture who knows next to no one. There are many tricks
to the trade that will enable even the novice to begin filing decent stories
hours after arriving on assignment. But there’s no substitute for a good
understanding of objectives, constraints and possibilities. This doesn’t
necessarily limit a reporter’s topic; in fact, I’d argue for covering broad
themes of interest to readers, in contrast to provincial issues and local
personalities.
At The Oregonian, we’ve found that readers respond
to up-close views of life abroad when the stories carry meaning at home.
These show how people live and think. They relate strongly to readers without
necessarily directly involving literal local angles. You can’t find them
on the wire.
The danger of parachute journalism is that logistics
are so demanding that journalists often must frame their story before they
arrive to do the reporting. Yet many regional or local papers don’t have
the resources or the interest to open a bureau. The question for them becomes
how to tackle foreign stories intelligently.
Good preparation is essential, even for breaking
news assignments.
Some countries (Japan, Taiwan) have excellent
press divisions in their foreign ministries that can arrange appointments
and find interpreters. In other countries, you’ll need to find interpreters,
drivers, sources, on your own. Hotel business centers and concierges can
often help. Also the local AP bureau can be a resource, as time allows.
The U.S. embassy press attaché can arrange briefings by economic/political
attaches, almost always on background. Foreign correspondents’ clubs sometimes
have good libraries, speakers, networks of colleagues, sources and interpreters.
(Tokyo and Hong Kong are good examples.)
A good local “fixer”/interpreter/driver is essential
and could literally save your life. Ask around with other journalists for
help in finding one.
 If
your story subject involves arcane or highly technical terms, take a glossary
of definitions to give to your interpreter in advance.
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