About DistantNews

DistantNews helps you follow the world through local news, not just the international stories that make it into English-language feeds. We translate and summarize reporting from vetted newspapers around the world, then add country context so each story is easier to understand from the outside.

It is built for travellers, expats, dual citizens, diaspora readers, researchers, and anyone who wants a wider view of what people in other countries are reading today.

Why we built this

Most international news reaches English-speaking readers through a small number of wire services, global outlets, and algorithmic feeds. That leaves out a lot: local priorities, regional debates, small civic stories, and the everyday context that helps a place feel real.

DistantNews does the slow work of finding credible local sources, organizing them by country, and making their coverage readable in English. Whether you are preparing for a trip, keeping up with home from abroad, or simply curious about another part of the world, the goal is the same: make local perspectives easier to reach.

What we offer

Translated local headlines. Follow newspapers and independent outlets from many countries in clear English.
Original summaries and context. Get the core facts, local framing, and background without losing the source publication’s point of view.
Country pages. Browse news, media context, travel notes, and country profiles in one place.
Guides and resources. Learn how to read international coverage with more confidence and less guesswork.

How we vet our sources

Every source on DistantNews is reviewed before it appears on the site. We look for editorial accountability, local reputation, ownership context, publication history, and reliability signals. We prioritize outlets that serve their local communities and make their journalistic standards visible to readers.

What makes us different

DistantNews is organized by country and region, so you can start with a place instead of a global breaking-news agenda. You can scan what newspapers in Germany, South Korea, Brazil, Nigeria, or dozens of other countries are covering and compare how different places frame the same moment.

Every article links back to the original publication. The purpose is discovery: helping readers find local reporting and sending attention back to the newspapers that produced it.

Who runs DistantNews

Founder-led, editorially reviewed

DistantNews is a small, founder-led publication built and edited by Brandon Unglaub, a product designer with more than a decade of experience building digital products. It grew out of a simple frustration: important local reporting exists everywhere, but it is often hard to find, hard to compare, and hard to read across languages.

The work combines source research, publisher vetting, product development, translation review, summarization, and editorial context. Technology helps make the coverage possible, but source selection, presentation, and standards are handled deliberately.

Questions, corrections, source suggestions, and partnership inquiries can be sent to hello@distantnews.com.

Editorial Standards

Transparency matters here. Readers should know where each story came from, what was translated, what was summarized, and what context was added by DistantNews.

How articles are produced

Source selection. We research and vet outlets before adding them, with attention to accountability, independence, ownership, local reputation, and reliability signals.
Translation. Non-English headlines and article text are translated into clear English and checked against the original source material.
Original summaries. Summaries are written for discovery and context. They are not copies of existing English-language coverage.
Local perspective. When context is added, it focuses on how the source publication frames the story and what outside readers may be missing.

Source context and reliability

Some sources include editorial-orientation labels or reliability notes such as established source, read with context, or limited public info. These labels are reader guides, not endorsements or condemnations. They are meant to help readers compare coverage with fuller context.

Corrections

If we find an error in any of our content, we want to know about it. Contact us at hello@distantnews.com and we will review and correct the issue promptly. We do not silently edit published content; corrections are noted when made.

Technology

We use technology tools to monitor many countries and languages at a scale that would otherwise require a much larger newsroom. Those tools support the process; they do not replace editorial judgment. The sources we select, the stories we surface, and the context we publish reflect deliberate editorial choices.

Our sources

We feature newspapers from every major world region, including Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America, and Oceania. We are always researching new outlets to add, with a focus on publications that serve their local communities.

Have a source you think we should cover? Let us know.