Piece Comment

Review of RN Documentary: Used and Abused: Child Trafficking in Southeast Asia


Three and and a half stars

Eric Beauchemin?s half hour documentary includes some deep research about child trafficking in Southeast Asia. It makes you glad you listened to it twice ? which you need to do to get the most from it.

Beauchemin?s dug up a lot of contrarian stuff about child workers we don?t always hear in the sensational storytelling endemic to this subject. I particularly enjoyed learning about the range of work girl and boy workers do. It isn?t just sex work. Economic pressure means keeping your options open, and that?s compelling.

Now the flipside: good reporting can, unfortunately, make for challenging radio, especially over a half hour. Beauchemin?s keen to make the most of the tape he has. So we have long interviews with experts, and with one Vietnamese worker, Vong, herself. That?s given the piece a slightly talky feel, with little ambient sound and scenario to break it up.

Perhaps this material wasn?t available. If so, some other device to break up the info flow ? musical or media interludes ? would have been welcome.

The piece opens strongly, with a good variety of textures and voices. Perhaps the open too can provide clues about how these interludes might work.

Finally, US listeners, who are not used to hearing translation, may tune out over the many foreign language clips and conversations here.

Programmers should consider scheduling this in the mid-day, when listeners are likely to be freshest and open to this deep exploration that asks a little more of the audience.

Anthea Raymond
PRX Editorial Board
Los Angeles
July 16, 2006