I became a journalist on that same notion, that it should be Mongolians who need to write about Mongolia to the outside world.
Aubrey Menard, a political scientist, the author of Young Mongols (2020) and a long time friend of mine mentioned in her book that, “In the New York Times archive, which dates back to 1851 and holds more than thirteen million articles, there are a mere 9,004 articles that even mention Mongolia. As if the lack of representation isn’t depressing enough, what’s telling us that there are about 2,000 more articles that mention Chinggis Khan (search term ‘Genghis Khan’) than there are articles that mention his country of origin.”
Her frustration stems from the fact that international media organizations have very little interest in covering Mongolia’s political climate.
In 2018, Ikon, a local news agency used open data sources to uncover the first definitive investigative reporting of corruption of top politicians embezzling state funds. It shook the country to its core, people took to the streets to demand accountability and it was the first time, thanks to local reporting, that a top political figure lost his power.
In a democratic society where corruption appears to be common, but it is difficult to definitively show, this was a remarkable act of journalistic prowess that is rarely seen in the country.