Unit 3

WORK OF THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT

The life and work of the Foreign Correspondent have a strong appeal for most young men and women in journalism. To cover the world’s news from China to Peru, from Moscow to Cape Town; to send back dispatches under date-lines from “faraway places with strange-sounding names” is the secret dream of many a cub-reporter which he spends dull hours in the local police court or council chamber.

The work of the Foreign Correspondent is something much wider than the mere reporting of events. He must give his readers at home a complete background service explaining and interpreting the news, providing eye-witness descriptions of scenes and happenings, conjuring up the atmosphere in which events are taking place, mailing informative articles periodically which will make newspaper readers familiar with the background to men and affairs. The journalist who wishes to make a success as an “Ambassador of the Press” must be a first-rate general reporter – he must have the nose for the news and keenly developed sense of news values, he must be a good listener who can get other people to favour him with their confidences, he must be a good mixer – able to be all things to all men.

The beginner to journalism who is determined to make accreditation as a Foreign Correspondent his aim, must begin by tackling the problem of languages. He should know at least two, apart from his own. Which two will depend, of course, on the part of the world where he is particularly anxious to serve. French and German used to be the minimum equipment of the European correspondent, but it is possible that Russian, rather than German, may be increasingly valuable in the future.

It must be remembered that to know a language, in the sense that a Foreign Correspondent must know it, means a great deal more than a nodding acquaintance with grammar and the ability to pick one’s way through a selected text or two. It means to be able to write the language fluently, to be able to take down speeches in shorthand, to follow conversations through the distorting medium of the telephone, and the like.

The would-be foreign representative must study world geography and get a thorough knowledge of modern history and current affairs, besides making a special study of the history, manners, customs, political system etc., of those countries where he hopes to work. If he is to write authoritatively on foreign affairs he must himself be an authority.

But first and foremost he is, and must remain, a reporter, seeking and reporting news.

NOTES

appeal n – привлекательность, очарование; to appeal v– привлекать, нравиться

to cover the news – освещать новости

dispatch n – депеша; news dispatch - корреспонденция

a cub-reporter – in the professional jargon of journalists means a beginner – начинающий репортер

to give a complete background service – зд. дать исчерпывающее разъяснение подоплеки событий

to provide eye-witness descriptions – описывать события как очевидец

to conjure up the atmosphere – воссоздавать атмосферу

an informative article – содержательная статья

a first-rate general reporter – первоклассный репортер, выполняющий общие задания

a nose for the news – зд. «нюх» на новости

a keenly developed sense of news values – остро развитое чувство значимости новостей

to favour somebody with one’s confidence – оказать кому-либо доверие

a good mixer – общительный человек; a bad mixer – необщительный человек

anxious adj – стремящийся к чему-либо, желающий чего-либо; anxious for success (for peace) – стремящийся к успеху (к миру); to be anxious to do something

equipment – зд. знание языков

a nodding acquaintance with grammar – «шапочное» знакомство с грамматикой

authority – авторитет, специалист, знаток; to be an authority on politics; authoritatively – авторитетно

first and foremost – прежде всего

Exercises

1. Read the text consulting the notes.

2. A) Answer the following questions:

   1. Why does the work of the foreign correspondent appeal to young men and women in journalism?

   2. Why should the foreign correspondent know foreign languages?

   3. What other subjects should he know well?

b) Sum up what the text has to say on each of the following points:

1. The job of the foreign correspondent.

2. The qualities and qualifications of the foreign correspondent.

3. Knowledge of foreign languages.

c) Answer some more questions about the text, working in pairs:

Why is it necessary a) to conjure up the atmosphere in which the events are taking place?

b) to give readers at home a complete background service?

c) to explain and interpret the news from faraway places?

d) to write informative articles?

e) to obtain a thorough knowledge of the history, geography and political system of the country?

3. Read the text with the help of the notes which follow: Mitsuko Shimomura Breaks New Ground for Japanese Women

She joined the Asahi Weekly Magazine 10 years ago. She was the only female writer on the staff.

For eight months she has been a roving correspondent in the United States for Asahi Shimbun, one of Tokyo’s leading daily newspapers, with a circulation of 7,5 million. It is a lonely prominence. Shimomura, at the age of 41, is believed to be the only Japanese woman ever to have become a foreign correspondent. “I’m simply working my head off. I keep moving, moving, moving.” At the moment, Shimomura is doing the kind of important interviews that have made her famous in Japan. The subject is often economics because that is her field of expertise.

She majored in economics at Keio University in Tokyo and received a master’s degree in economics at New York University in 1964. Her first six months in the United States were a nightmare, she said, because of her faulty English. She would dream that English books were tumbling down on her, she said, and she invariably awoke with a scream. Finally, there was “a kind of melting”, and the English came to her.

She thinks her drive comes from her mother, who became a doctor in the days when female physicians were in Japan.

Her mother was the fifth graduate of the Tokyo Women’s Medical College. “My father, who’s a business executive, wanted me to become a medical doctor, too, but I just wanted to write so much. At that time there was no opportunity – it was just like a dream”.

Her break came at 1964 Winter Olympics in Tokyo, where Asahi Shimbun hired her as an English interpreter. She interpreted for the newspaper’s reporters and interviewed athletes. In 1965 the newspaper took her on as a staff writer for This Is Japan, its English-language annual publication. In 1971 she was transferred to the Weekly Asahi: “I had to start writing in Japanese again, and it wasn’t easy. But I worked up gradually from little things to pieces on social changes among woman in that office. The editors didn’t know what was going on.”

Although courteously treated by the men in her office, she said she felt “alone and isolated.” Of Asahi’s 3000 reporters and editors, only seven at the Tokyo headquarters are women, with 20 more women in outlying bureaus. Once a year there is a “women’s network” luncheon at Asahi. The group’s greatest achievement, she said, was in obtaining equality between men’s and women’s wages.

Soon after becoming a foreign correspondent, Shimomura went to Copenhagen for the UN conference on women, then covered an OPEC conference in London. But above all she likes to do lengthy, one-person interviews.

Speaking about her interviewing manner she said: "I listen, I am very low-key. I want to let people say what they believe in. I want them to trust me so they will open their hearts."

She does not believe she will ever become Westernized or Ameri­canized. "My instincts and my ways of thinking are deeply Japanese. I want to keep it that way. It makes me a better journalist."

NOTES

a roving correspondent - разъездной корреспондент

circulation - тираж

to work one's head off - работать, не покладая рук

a master's degree - ученая степень магистра (присуждается университетом лицам, успешно завершившим по крайней мере год учебы и исследовательской работы после окончания уни­верситета)

drive и - энергия, напористость; his style has a drive - у него энергичный стиль

headquarters - штаб, главное управление

outlying bureaus [' bjuarouz] - отделы, находящиеся не в глав­ном управлении

"women's network" luncheon - торжественный обед, органи­зованный для женщин, работающих в газете

I am very low-key - я держусь в тени