Reuters is looking for an energetic, tenacious and multimedia journalist to lead its Vietnam bureau, directing coverage of one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economies that has become crucial to the global supply chains. Vietnam’s early success in combating COVID-19 through travel curbs and lockdowns has been followed by a swift pivot to easing of restrictions that allowed manufacturing to quickly resume, in contrast to neighbor China.
Vietnam has emerged as an alternative production hub for companies looking to reduce exposure to China, with its population of 98 million people and a young, highly literate workforce. The median age of Vietnam’s population is just over 30 and most of its people are under 40s who came of age when the country opened for trade and investment. Vietnam is the second-largest exporter of garments to the United States, with its factories supplying such brands as Nike and Zara. Its growing tech sector supplies giants such as Apple and Samsung, with the latter nearly doubling its investment this year to more than $2 billion. It is also a vital commodities producer as the world’s second-largest exporter of robusta coffee and one of the biggest global rice suppliers.
Vietnam remains a tightly controlled state run by the Communist Party. State-owned enterprises are a large part of the business story, as are local private conglomerates and a nascent start-up scene.
Vietnam is also an important player in geopolitics, from tension over control of the resource-rich South China Sea to becoming a key ally with one-time enemy the United States, as Washington seeks to pursue its Indo-Pacific Strategy in part to counter China.
About the Role
As Vietnam Bureau Chief, you will:
- Lead a small team to break news fast and first.
- Spot trends and develop insightful, deeply reported initiatives.
- Build sources among both global and local business, diplomatic and government leaders.
- Coordinate across Reuters text and visuals teams and with editors, bureau chiefs and correspondents around the globe.
- Tell the story through the best medium – in words, video, pictures or graphics.
- Navigate the bureaucracy of reporting from a country that restricts foreign media.
About You
You’re a fit for the role of Vietnam Bureau Chief if your background includes:
- A track record of breaking exclusive news and delivering agenda-setting initiative stories.
- Ability to take photos and video in a small bureau with limited resources.
- Five years of experience in journalism with demonstrated leadership aptitude.
- Experience in reporting on companies, commodities and energy stories.
- Deft writing ability, including switching from news alerts, trunk writing and initiatives.
- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to guide coverage and develop staff members’ skills.
- Tenacity in overcoming roadblocks to reporting in an environment suspicious of foreign media.
To apply, go here.
