For younger journalists entering the profession today, it is hard to imagine how foreign reporting once worked. News organizations now require hostile-environment training, flak jackets, GPS trackers, evacuation plans and liability sign-offs before a correspondent crosses a border. Insurance companies insist on detailed risk assessments. Editors monitor reporters’ movements in real time through dashboards and security briefings.
And yet, even as safety protocols have multiplied, the institutions that once sustained foreign reporting are quietly disappearing. Recent layoffs at The Washington Post, including the closure of its remaining foreign bureaux, mark another step in a long retreat. It is now possible to be better protected than ever and still have nowhere left to report from.