Journalism
I worked as news editor and field producer for ten years.
As Senior News Editor I was point person for international news content for field teams and programme executives. A big part of my job was to recognise news that was not only in the public interest, but would also resonate with our viewers on an emotional level - the stories that would stand out in an otherwise busy news cycle.
This involved translating complex issues into clear, relatable narratives that would engage our audience and had the potential to drive a wider conversation.
As Field Producer I sourced and researched, pitched and filmed stories across many genres, from breaking news to investigate reports, political and climate journalism to arts and sporting events. The stories that I enjoyed working the most on, where the human ones that told what’s happening behind the headlines.
Check out some examples of my work below.
Why empathy matters.
In television news, a story is only as good as the access to people, locations and information you can secure. For someone to speak to me frankly and on record, that requires a certain level of trust. Trust is built on relationship and emotional reciprocity: empathy.
Being a journalist was a true privilege. I was able to touch lives and be touched by them, elevate voices and offer new perspectives on otherwise familiar headlines. I built relationships with people who trusted me to tell their stories, all of which is evident in the coverage I produced over the years.
VICE News on HBO
“Tidal may have juiced Kanye and Beyoncé’s streaming numbers.”
An alleged whistle-blower leaked data to the Norwegian paper Dagens Naeringsliv, which showed that numbers were inflated by 320 million listens.
I secured rare access to original, leaked material from Tidal’s servers in Oslo and interviewed the NTNU data forensics team in Gjøvik as the only international news outlet to do so. I found patterns where listens had been inflated by analysing the raw data and together with the graphics team, helped produce an animated sequence to illustrate those findings visually.
My article to the story here.
“Japanese cult leader Shoko Asahara’s daughter spoke to us right before he was executed”, 2018
Shoko Asahara had been on death row for his part in the Tokyo sarin gas attack in 1995 for more than 13 years. A new Emperor was due to ascend to the throne, and I predicted that Asahara would be gone before the coronation.
I wanted to speak to Asahara’s daughter, Rika Matsumoto as the only person who campaigned for her father’s human rights to be upheld in custody. Publicly vilified from an early age, Rika was suspicious of any media coverage on her life. She nonetheless granted us unprecedented access as the first international media outlet to interview her.
Read the story here.
Sky News
“Mongolia’s Nomads face hunger crisis”
We reported on the Mongolian nomad communities during the country’s harshest winter in sixty years. Millions of cattle were starving to death due to the effects of global warming.
I pitched the story to our internal teams and secured access to Red Cross relief efforts to nomad communities that had been cut off for months. There was initial concern that the story would not resonate with a UK viewership. We ended up doing a full day of live coverage from Mongolia, with members of the public contacting our offices asking us how they could help.
“Japan Tsunami evacuees speak of sense of betrayal”
Our team was based in Beijing, which made us the first to land in Japan after the Earthquake and Tsunami hit in March 2011.
A selection of stories that I worked on, mainly for Sky News.
It includes an undercover report on mental health facilities being used to illegally detain political activists; the death of an elderly woman at the hands of property developers, our coverage of elections in Myanmar from Karen rebel-held territory and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
