Why did you decide to become a journalist?

I was always fascinated by journalism. I liked reading, writing, learning about the world – I’m a curious person. I put off becoming a journalist for years because I was trained to be a scientist and I didn’t have the courage to switch for a long time. I was working on a PhD in the USA and increasingly getting bored by my life bound to a lab and just the few people in the lab I’d interact with on a daily basis. So I started volunteering at a community radio station and helping out with the news team. I realised I was loving what I was doing. I stopped working on my PhD programme and I did a master’s degree in journalism in the US, and I was able to merge my training and interest in science with my love for storytelling. So for most of my career, I’ve covered science, health, environment, anything where science meets people’s lives. More recently I’ve added gender-related issues and I’m starting to write about the expat experience and culture.

What did your family say about your switch to journalism?

My parents freaked out, like a lot of Indian parents! My dad was an academic, a scientist, as were a lot of people in my family. In the culture I grew up in, you either became a doctor, an engineer or an academic. My mother thought I was abandoning a path that had been laid out for me, for a financially uncertain path that had a lot of running around and hustling. She is still concerned and for years she lamented that everyone else’s children had a PhD and her daughter didn’t. It’s changed, they’re very proud of me now. Once I started working with the programme The World, which is a BBC World Service and Public Radio International co-production, and once the brand name of the BBC was attached, she changed her mind and had a lot of respect for me. Now she loves hearing from me about the people I meet and the stories I cover. My dad was shocked and unnerved, but also supportive, even through the early days. At The World, I produced a weekly podcast and he used to listen and talk to me about the stories, which was adorable.

What do you like most about your job?

I love two things about it – having the privilege of being allowed into people’s lives, not just their day-to-day lives, but being allowed into people’s emotional lives, and being allowed to tell other people about the reality that people are living through. The other thing I love is talking to very smart people who are working on interesting things and being able to explain that to the ordinary person and tell an interesting and engaging story about something complex. I love that as well. For me, the most fun part is when I have my script in hand and I’m ready to track the piece, especially when I’m doing it in a studio. I love, love, love the performance part of it.

What do you dislike most about your job?

Logging tape. Every time I start working on a new radio feature, I’m always wishing for a house elf or an intern to log tape for me.

What’s the most difficult story you’ve ever covered?

The most difficult story I’ve ever covered was about a mysterious disease epidemic in Sri Lanka. In the North Central Province, called the rice bowl, rice farmer families were developing a mysterious kind of chronic kidney disease. Kidney disease is usually caused by hypertension and diabetes but this was different. There weren’t many explanations for the epidemic, just a lot of theories. My challenge was to fly in for ten days and sort out fact from fiction and exaggerated claims, and to be able to describe what people are experiencing and use the little information to get the most scientifically accurate portrayal of what the causes might be. The World had covered a similar epidemic in South America, and the people there were outraged by the epidemic and protesting. My editor at the time kept asking me if people were also outraged in Sri Lanka. And I was visiting these calm idyllic peaceful villages with very hospitable people, and it didn’t look like an epidemic – you usually think of people dying, freaking out, reacting emotionally, yet there was this cover of perfect beauty and calm, and to get people to really talk about what they were experiencing was difficult. Also, a more nuanced story we don’t often hear about Sri Lanka is that it has one of the best public health care systems. They were providing free medication, free dialysis , which is beyond what a developed country might provide. So to be able take all those conflicting and unclear strands and be able to tell a coherent, accurate and nuanced story was very challenging.

Is there a story you’ve done that’s particularly affected you?

There’s a story I did last year, where I profiled a 12-year-old girl in a really remote village in a very culturally conservative part of India. She was quite a firecracker of a character, which was unusual in that setting because a lot of girls in that setting are very shy. So the story ended up being about how this girl was navigating a landscape where gender roles are slowly shifting. It made me reflect a lot on my own upbringing and that of other female friends in India, and how we have all negotiated our own paths between the traditional and the modern, and found our own definitions, or figured out ways that have worked best for us. And she made me understand a lot about gender dynamics in India.

How do you feel your career path is developing as a journalist?

I’m still figuring it out. When I started, I had more of a straight-up science reporting path. Over recent years, I’ve gravitated to understanding various aspects of developing societies, be it gender, environment, economics, health. So I think, I’m merging more of myself and my own background into my formal training.

What sort of equipment do you use?

I use two Marantzes. I have the smaller PMD420 and a PMD660. I have three microphones: shotgun, omni, cardioid. I like as much sound as possible. The shotgun is great for ambient sound, such as birds chirping 500 metres away, or someone walking by. I also use it for a group of people where I’m following conversations but I need to stand away from them to let them chat, but I want to be able to switch direction with my mic to get good sound from whoever I want to record. The cardoid has become my standard sit-down one-on-one interview mic. The omni I use more for ambience in a room or outside on the street – I use it the least. Until a month ago, I used Adobe Audition software for editing. And now I’m using Audacity, free software. It’s funny how your muscle memory is – I keep using the short-cut commands from Audition.

What sort of media do you consume?

I mostly consume radio and online news. TV is the medium I consume the least. I feel I have to keep up with the radio world but it doesn’t always have a lot breaking news, so I add online news to keep up with what’s happening on a daily basis. What I enjoy most is podcasts. Because I’m based in India, where there’s not much radio news, my radio consumption happens on the web or via podcasts. My morning routine is to listen to the previous day’s podcast of The World while I have my breakfast. In that way, I keep up with what’s happening in the world and what the show’s covering. I try to keep up with NPR’s stories. I keep up with Twitter and Facebook, to find out what people are talking about.

What’s your dream as a journalist?
My dream is for my story to have an impact, either directly on someone’s life by changing policy or by better informing people, or spurring a discussion. My series on India’s free school lunch program (funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting), got a lot of attention on Weibo, China’s microblogging platform. People there were impressed with the Indian program and wanted to learn from India’s example to expand China’s nascent school feeding program.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Interview by Lesley Branagan, edited by Kate Hairsine

The 26-year-old reporter says writing and journalism is in the family. She was inspired to pursue a career in journalism and broadcasting by her grandfather who was a well-known poet and newspaper editor, and by her aunt, Saumu Mwasimba, who currently works in Deutsche Welle’s Kiswahili service. A recent highlight for Sophia was traveling to South Korea to produce a feature comparing South Korean and Kenyan economic development. Sophia spoke to onMedia about her work.

What do you like most about your job?

Waking up as early as 3 am in the morning and completing my shift by 1 pm. It allows me to venture into other things outside my profession, since I have a lot of the time in the day to myself. Journalism has also helped me to learn more about what is happening in my country and other countries, which makes me more alert in situations around me.

What do you dislike most about your job?

The lack of holidays!

What is the most difficult story you have covered?

The elections in 2007. The difficulty was not in covering the process of voting and the tallying of the results but the violence. The voting station I was sent to cover was at a primary school in Kilifi County, north of Mombasa. Youths attacked (the voting station) and killed police officers on duty and also some election officials. Seeing their bodies lying helplessly on the ground was a torture to me. Unfortunately, the people in that area were also denied their constitutional right of voting following this incident. This is one story that will forever be at the back of my mind.

What challenges as a journalist do you face in Kenya?

The recent media bill passed by the National Assembly and signed into law by the President gags journalists and affects the way we cover particular events and stories. It is very difficult to express our views freely as journalists. We are now restricted by the law.

How do you feel you are developing as a journalist and advancing along your career path?

I am trying to use online resources to better understand new ways of telling stories. I believe they will shape the future of media. But I must say I have changed a lot since I joined the media industry. There are so many areas I have improved on compared to the first day such as my news presentation skills and script writing.

What kind of media do you consume?

Every form of media available online. I follow both local and international news. I basically like to follow stories on Al Jazeera, CNN and Daily Mail on their online platform. I also read Kenyan local newspapers including the Standard.

How important are social media networks for your work?

Social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook are very helpful as they are quick in breaking news and they help us find information and get more details from our sources.

What are your goals as a journalist?

To be an agent of developmental change in Kenya and Africa. I’m aiming to become a feature writer on human interest stories. In Kenya I will never fail to have something to write about.

Do you have a personal motto for your journalistic work?

Strive for excellence!

Gary covering a royal visit to the Solomon Islands

Environmental journalist Gary Scott Hatigeva lives in the Solomon Islands, a remote tropical country in the South Pacific about 2,000 km north-east of Australia. Much of the population of the Solomons lives in rural villages dispersed over hundreds of islands and many people still have little access to the media. For the past four years, Gary has worked as a reporter, photographer, online editor and graphic designer for The Island Sun, one of the two major newspapers in the Solomon Islands. During his day to day work, Gary is involved with the paper’s editing team, and on occasion stands in as assistant editor. He also takes photographs for the paper and edits them for publications. Gary wrote to onMedia about his work and journalism interests.

Do you have a personal motto for your journalistic work?
Be prepared for anything as it can become something.

Is there a situation, interview or story that has changed your life?
Yes, there are many actually but there is one that really moved me and changed my life. It has also changed my perspective on our earth and the people living on it. This was when I covered the issue of climate change and went to interview some of the people who were affected by it. During my trip I realized that truly, climate change is happening right in front of our eyes but we never seemed to notice or care. On an island I traveled to, I discovered first-hand that parts of the island had already gone underwater. But this happened just within a three year span. From then on, I have been reminding myself about how I can help reduce my own environmental impact and how I approach the issue of climate change.

What do you love about your work?
I love that I get to meet new people almost every day, both good and bad. Another awesome thing about my work is that there are always new and mesmerizing people to get connected with and places to discover.

Gary interviewing reggae musician Julian Marley

And what do you dislike about your work?
What I hate is when more than 50 percent of our population is media shy, which means in many cases, I don’t get what I want even if it’s only for a soft story.

Your journalistic dream would be…?
To further my study as a journalist and as an environmental reporter.

What’s your most important work tool?
My recorder

What do you still want to learn? Is there a question about your profession that you keep asking yourself?
How I could utilise the available avenues I’m using to involve our clients and customers but most importantly, the silent majority in our country.

Which websites do you visit every day?
I spend like an hour or two on Facebook almost every day to interview people including sources, while at the same time updating our paper’s Facebook page. I also go on Twitter for tips and Google for updates on the latest and recent news/happenings in and around the Pacific region. But after attending a DW Akademie training in Fiji last year, I also now go online to search relevant photos on Flicker – a highly recommendable site for online writers and journalists.

If you could write a text message to the world, what would it be?
Let’s help make a difference in the lives of our vulnerable people!

Oudom also produces radio stories and video pieces, and his film about the shooting of three workers in the Cambodian garment sector was selected as a finalist entry at the 2013 German Development Media Awards. These days though, Oudom is mainly doing what he loves best, taking pictures of news events around Cambodia, which he hopes will help bring about democratic change in the country. He spoke to onMedia about his work.

Why did you decide to become a journalist?

I grew up seeing plenty of problems and corruption in my society. My father always taught me about the importance of fairness and independence. But the news on television and radio in Cambodia is mostly pro-government, and “very thin,” you might say. They just broadcast stories about the prime minister inaugurating something or praise some social initiative he has backed. They never broadcast information about government crackdowns on people, such as what happened in early January this year. I decided I wanted to try to help change my society by providing real, professional-quality news to the people in Cambodia.

What did your parents and friends say about your decision?

My family was very proud. They’ve always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to do. If you feel good about it, they said, do it. But my good friends were afraid. They know if you want to be a fair journalist, you can come up against a lot of problems. They told me I should get an office job. I thanked them for worrying about me but told them I wanted to help change my country into a real democracy. I think they understand now.

What do you like most about your job?

I love taking pictures and then writing captions for them. I like to present information to people, not telling them what to think but allowing them to make up their own minds about what’s happening in the country.

These photos by Oudom Tat were taken on Dec. 23, 2013, during a demonstration in Phnom Penh calling for a host of reforms in the country.

What do you dislike most about being a photojournalist?

I don’t like it when the government discriminates against the media. We have a lot of problems with them. Government officials don’t provide us with good information and rarely let us interview them. Journalists also face a lot of general harassment. I myself have been harassed and intimidated a lot, even threatened. When I was reporting on the problems of garment workers, I was kicked off my bike once. My bike was stolen on another occasion. I can’t be sure if the people behind it are from the government or the garment factories, but there have been problems and I’ve been told to stop doing my work or I’ll “get in trouble”. During a recent government crackdown on striking workers, I was taking pictures when someone in the military pointed a gun at me. He said: “Do you want to die for just a picture?” I stayed calm, put down my camera and stepped back to let the tension subside. But afterwards I started taking pictures again.

What was the most difficult story you have covered?

They are all hard, because it is so difficult to get information from the government. Getting an interview with a minister is the most difficult thing of all. They almost never agree to talk to independent media outlets.

Is there a story that you have covered that has particularly affected you?

I helped produce a video on garment factory workers and during the reporting I saw first hand how much many of them have suffered. I talked to women who had fainted on the factory floor. They told me they didn’t make enough money and didn’t have enough food to eat. It really made me think about how I was fortunate compared to them. I really felt I needed to do something to help them and get their stories out.

How did you acquire your photography skills?

I never had any formal training in photography. After I got a smart phone, I realized I liked taking pictures with it. Then I realized that I knew a lot of people at work who really knew how to take good pictures. So they taught me. I just practiced and practiced until I got it.

What kind of media do you listen to/watch/read?

I follow both local and international news. I like keeping up with international developments with Reuters, CNN and the BBC. I real the local Phnom Penh Post newspaper and of course, listen to my own station, the Voice of Democracy. But as far as Cambodian TV goes, I watch something maybe once a year.

How do you feel you are developing as a journalist?

I love what I do now, since what I enjoy best is taking pictures and putting a simple but powerful caption on it. I think it’s one of the best ways to get easy-to-understand information to a large number of Cambodians. So now, I feel I’m being successful in informing my community, my country and even abroad. My aim is not to become famous and I don’t really need a lot of possessions. I would just like to do more of what I’m doing and continue to learn more about journalism and the challenges faced by my society.

Interview: Kyle James

Why did you become a journalist?

I didn’t necessary start off planning on becoming a journalist because I did a general degree. I’ve always loved reading and information, so at the end of my studies I thought about journalism or PR. It just just so happened that I was accepted as a radio journalist at MBC. Since then, the passion has grown. Now I am proud to be a journalist because it allows me to tell stories from different points of view for different audiences.

What do you love most about the job?

I love that it allows me to talk to different people in depth about their experiences and provide inspiration for others to learn about that one thing. That way, you actually become an instrument of change. That is a very scary responsibility to have but it is also quite empowering. The other thing I love about my job is that it enables me to help people. My personal interest is helping young people, especially young women, and through my work as a journalist I can now tell them that there is something else out there. All this I’ve been able to do because my work as a journalist takes me to places and allows me to experience new things. So it gives me the power to change my community and move things.

You started off as a radio journalist, then did some television and now you are doing online journalism. Some people find these kind of changes stressful because they always have to learn new things. How do you cope?

I thrive on challenge. So it is very exciting for me to face new challenges. It’s actually when I am in my element. I can get really stressed because I am a perfectionist but at the same time I am really happy when I have met deadline and made personal progress because I have learned something new. And it also has the advantage that someone else – the listeners or Internet visitors – have learned something new just because I have learnt something new.

Which media do you enjoy working in the most?

What I have discovered is that no matter what media I am using, I like editing and actually producing the story. It is kind of like you are creating something – you get to chose the direction of the report. You start of with the different people you have talked to and then you put it all together – I just love when the story starts to flow and progress. I think I was born to do that.

What aspect of journalism do dislike the most?

Taking videos. I am a perfectionist as I already mentioned and so if the lighting is wrong or if someone walks through my video or the shot doesn’t work, I find it stressful. I need something to be perfect and I am a little impatient. And you need patience for video. But I still enjoy it even though it is really frustrating.

What about equipment. Do you have your own?

I use my own recorder and camera for taking photos. It can be a little difficult with equipment at MBC.

What about your phone. You have a smart phone, a Sony Xperia – what do you use that for?

I really love technology and I just love my phone. I sometimes record on it and edit audio using a free app that I got from the Google Playstore. Sometimes it’s a bit frustrating because the buttons are so small but I still use it. I also edit video using Androvid, another free Android app. I also use my phone to keep up with news. I have a BBC app and watch YouTube videos.

What about social media. How do you use them for stories?

I use Facebook to find ideas and to get in touch with people for interviews. Twitter I mainly use personally, not for news. I also have a blog on WordPress but don’t have so much time to keep it up-to-date.

How do you see your future as a journalist?

Because of my large, large interest in technology and because Africa is so behind in this respect, I would like to continue in online. One day, it would be nice to be more freelance so I could follow my interests or perhaps work as a blogger and work somewhere I can make a difference.