Nicholas Hune-Brown on international students, vivid scenes and reporting from a distance

Podcast art by Katelyn Curtis

In season five, episode two of Pull Quotes, Nicholas Hune-Brown spoke with co-host Rahaf Farawi about his feature The Shadowy Business of International Education, published by The Walrus in August. 

This season’s podcast takes you behind the scenes of Canada’s top long-form stories. In this episode, Hune-Brown talks about how his feature had many different iterations and ultimately became the longest story he’s ever worked on. 

I wanted to figure out exactly who was profiting along the way and what that meant.

Nicholas Hune-Brown

Hune-Brown explains what drew him to the story and how he landed a compelling character to have at the centre of the piece. 

“I knew that international education was huge and was bringing in tons of money and was transforming post-secondary education in the country. But I think I wanted to figure out exactly who was profiting along the way and what that meant,” he says.

Hune-Brown also talks about reporting from a great distance, difficulties gathering data, and interviewing vulnerable sources without being exploitative.

Credits: 

Gabe Oatley, editor and co-host

Rahaf Farawi, producer and co-host

Andrew Oliphant, guest producer

Annika Forman, guest producer

Geena Mortfield, fact checker

Sonya Fatah, executive producer