The ‘Absurd’ New Reality of Reporting From the U.S.
The role of Washington correspondent has long been one of the most prized postings in international journalism.
When the French journalist Sonia Dridi talks about her experience covering the past few weeks of protests against racism and police brutality in the United States, she often thinks back to another story she covered.
“The scene, seeing everyone running around Lafayette Square, really made me think of Egypt,” Dridi, a Washington correspondent for the broadcaster France 24 and other French media outlets, told me of one of the early nights of protests in the capital following the killing of George Floyd. More specifically, she said, it reminded her of the scenes she witnessed in Cairo covering the civil unrest and protests that ultimately culminated in the Arab Spring. Though those events and
