Southeast Asia Correspondent Based in Kuala Lumpur & Manila

I thrive when I’m in the trenches reporting from the streets of major cities to remote villages without electricity and running water. I love producing character-driven stories that make complicated issues understandable. My assignments include covering elections in Indonesia, Malaysia as well as the Philippines, human trafficking syndicates that are enslaving victims from across Asia, the reasons why Indonesia has the highest male smoking rates in the world and the Myanmar pro-democracy movement's struggle against the military before as well as after the 2021 coup. 

I've delivered stories to international news outlets including the CBC, Deutsche Welle, NPR, VOA, Reuters Broadcast and Time.com. I've reported from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh and Myanmar where I was based for several years. I cover social issues, public health, politics, economics, natural disasters and human interest stories. I also train local television and digital video journalists in the region. I earned a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. I've traveled across Southeast Asia on board rickety buses, leaky riverboats and standing-room-only trains.

You can contact me at dgrune@hotmail.com