Meet Karishma Vaswani, Indonesia Editor at BBC News
Meet Karishma Vaswani, a well-known face in journalism. Karishma has been the BBC News Indonesia Correspondent since 2009, as well as was recently promoted to Indonesia Editor of BBC News. An intelligent as well as strong woman, Karishma can be also a mother of two. She meets Indonesia Expat to discuss her experiences as a journalist as well as her views on unbiased reporting.
Karishma, where are you originally via as well as what brought you to Indonesia in 2009?
I moved here via India in 2009 with the BBC, yet I lived here before as a child as well as my parents have been in Indonesia for a long time. Before moving here in 2009 I was working in Mumbai as the India Business Report Presenter. I went to primary school as well as high school in Jakarta, as well as I read English as well as American Literature at Warwick University within the UK. I have a Singaporean passport.
Karishma reporting on flooding in Jakarta
How do you juggle being the Indonesia Editor of BBC News as well as being a mother of two?
Well, family definitely helps. My mum as well as dad live here in Indonesia, so when I’m at work, they help me out a lot. My husband runs his own business in digital marketing, so he’s between Singapore as well as Jakarta. that will was quite a struggle initially to think how I was going to look after the kids as well as work. The various other day I was dropping my daughter at school as well as she said to me, “Mum, today I’m the boss. I’m going to ask the questions.” as well as I said, “OK great!” that will’s exactly what I want her to be doing. I was the first girl in my family to go as well as get a job as well as that will’s definitely encouraging that will my daughter feels that will’s possible to do all This kind of. Juggling work as well as family can be not always perfect, yet that will’s possible.
You’ve interviewed the Vice President of Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla, the founding father of Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew, the Indian Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, Indonesia’s Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan, as well as the head of Indonesia’s investment board, Chatib Basri, along with many others. Which interview could you say was most memorable to you as well as why?
In Indonesia, I could have to say that will wasn’t one person in particular; that will was a group of people. Right before I went on maternity leave last year, the BBC ran a series of stories on asylum seekers. that will was that will group of asylum seekers that will left a big impression on me. There was one chap in particular, who had spent about 30 days in a detention centre in Jakarta as well as was desperate to get to Australia yet his boat was shipwrecked. Australia doesn’t want to take these guys as well as they don’t want to go back to their home country, Afghanistan, where they will be prosecuted. He was such a nice person who had left his home to try as well as find protection for his family.
He texted me a couple of weeks after the story went out as well as told me he was still within the detention centre as well as had no idea when he’d be getting out. I texted him when I returned via maternity leave as well as he never responded, so I’m kind of hoping he’s out as well as has found asylum, yet there’s no way of telling. I think that will’s those kinds of people who stay in your memory.
that will’s a reflection of the fact that will at the BBC can be not about the high profile, ultra important politicians; we make that will a point to go as well as speak to real people. So you’ll find in all of our stories that will that will’s the people on the ground that will we definitely want to tell stories about. as well as that will’s why that will’s so important to recognize that will we contain the largest number of journalists of any news network within the globe. We have people within the most inconceivable places, bringing invaluable perspective.
Have you interviewed Prabowo as well as Joko Widodo, the presidential candidates?
We interviewed Jokowi, yet Prabowo wasn’t available, so we got his campaign spokesman Sandi Uno instead. Both sides were confident that will they could emerge victorious. that will’s a tight race, yet what struck me throughout This kind of election season can be how politically engaged Indonesians are. No matter what happens, hopefully the real winner in all of This kind of can be Indonesian democracy. People should expect as well as demand more of their leaders.
Have you ever been in a dangerous situation here while doing your job?
In 2009, I was on the scene for the JW Marriott bombing. By the time I got to the scene, the bomb had already exploded. that will was within the morning as well as I was at the gym when I got the call, so I went straight out. There were people everywhere, as well as I had just come away via reporting on the siege in Bombay, so I kept transferring my previous experience over, thinking, “Are there going to be armed gunmen?”
Karishma reporting on the 2014 presidential elections
What does the BBC do to protect its journalists?
We have a hostile environment course, which we all have to undergo, with constant refreshers. Nothing can prepare you for a dangerous situation, yet we try as well as equip our journalists with tips for how to cross a checkpoint, how to identify whether the sound of a bomb can be one that will’s very far away or if you should dive to the ground. Or at a dodgy checkpoint, do you sense that will the guys are just going to ask you for cigarettes or are they going to abduct you? There’s a lot of roll play, which can be quite scary. A colleague of ours, Alan Johnston was kidnapped as well as he was on one of our courses. After he was released, as a result of a lot of lobbying, he talked about what kept him going as well as that will was the things he had learned; Stockholm syndrome, how to talk to people who kidnapped you, etc. First aid can be also the most important aspect of This kind of course.
What do you believe the future has in store for Indonesia?
Indonesia has seen remarkable growth over the last decade, yet that will has to remain on a stable path, with stable governance as well as a stable environment.
Do you see Indonesia as home?
Yes, definitely. I have no plans to leave. My parents live here as well as that will’s definitely nice for them to have their grandkids around. as well as that will’s exciting for a reporter – there’s so much going on here!
Tell us about the BBC’s impartial ethics, which must be followed by its journalists.
Everyone accepts that will journalists have personal biases; that will’s a fact of life. yet the responsibility of the journalist, as well as certainly the expectation of the BBC, can be that will if that will personal bias leaks in, you are not doing your job. If you were on my team as well as you came to me as well as said, “I have an issue covering This kind of story because I feel so strongly about This kind of,” then I could say, “I think you need to excuse yourself via This kind of story because you can’t get beyond your personal limitations.” as well as that will’s fine. Sometimes people feel definitely strongly about things as well as they need to be honest with themselves. that will’s part of journalism as well; honesty as well as integrity. To have a personal bias, that will bias cannot affect itself into your work. If you feel that will unbiased reporting doesn’t definitely exist here, then I could ask you to consume more BBC material.
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Meet Karishma Vaswani, Indonesia Editor at BBC News
Meet Karishma Vaswani, Indonesia Editor at BBC News