Editorial: In this issue: Foreign correspondents in Asia-Pacific

The allure of reporting the distant and the exotic has been long acknowledged. Even in Elizabethan times, Shakespeare had Othello enrapture Desdemona with what might be considered a form of foreign correspondency, spinning stories of his travels. In describing how he first enthralled her, he explains: I spake of most disastrous chances, Of moving accidents by flood and field, Of hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breaches ... Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch heaven. (Othello I, 3) The glamour and prestige attached to reporting from foreign climes persists in the modern-day news industry. Journalists hold "an almost blind conviction that a foreign posting is the pinnacle" of professional life, with such positions being the most sought-after in news organisations (ZueI1999: 4).The status attached to foreign correspondency is acknowledged - whether directly or indirectly - by most of the articles in this issue. John Schauble's paper is perhaps the most explicit, quoting mid-20th century correspondent Garry Barker, who describes foreign correspondents as being "knighted in their profession".