Southeast Asia Correspondent Based in Manila & Kuala Lumpur

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 presidential elections in Indonesia as well as the Philippines, human trafficking syndicates that are enslaving victims from across Asia, the region's stateless Rohingya Muslim community and the Myanmar pro-democracy movement's struggle against the military before as well as after the 2021 coup.

I've reported for international news outlets including Reuters Broadcast, CBC, Deutsche Welle, VOA, BBC, Time.com and NPR's "Only A Game." I've reported from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Myanmar where I was based for several years. I cover foreign affairs, social issues, politics, public health, 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