Because the recurring discussion so far excludes those correspondents which truly attempt to do their job but get caught up or even trapped in the framework of narratives which stem forth from either top-down directed media manipulation at the foreign location (which can be rampant) and if that's not enough, there's the narrative from the editors at home who hope for catchy headlines and experience complete disconnect with the foreign correspondent. And mangled in between rapdily evaporates genuine reporting, which is selective and skewed at best. It's not that some correspondents don't have the chance to interact with local people, as Migeru writes, sometimes that chance simply does not exist.

An amazing (Dutch) book was released this year by a reporter who described his correspondence years in Egypt and in Israel and the Palestinian territorities. It completely devastates the layman's notion that correspondents can properly function even when they want to. (Because the easy way out, the correspond-itis of copy-pasting press releases within a hotel suite, is abundantly present as well: see Migeru's El Pais example.) The book is called "Het zijn net mensen" (loosely translated "They're almost humans") by Joris Luyendijk. If it were up to me, it should become standard material for any journalist or those interested in this subject.

Anyway. This is a subject that really is in need of its own niche to allow further expansion.