Digital Commons Network^™

Youssra Jabeen, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Youssra Jabeen from Pakistan is a video journalist with Arab News Pakistan. She was a development communications manager at the United Nations Development Program's Merged Areas Governance Program (MAGP) from March 2021 to November 2023. Before working for UNDP, Youssra was a multimedia journalist with over 10 years of experience. She's interested in covering art and culture news, especially when they intersect with social issues such as women's rights and vulnerable communities. Her work has been published in major Pakistani news outlets such as BBC Urdu, Independent Urdu Dawn, and the Express Tribune. She also worked for the Dallas Morning …

Iris Hsu, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Iris Hsu from Taipei is the China representative at the Committee to Protect Journalists (or CPJ). Established in 1981, CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. It is made up of 40 experts around the world with its headquarter in New York City. Iris Hsu joined CPJ in 2017. Prior to joining CPJ, she interned at Human Rights Watch, the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, and the Atlantic Council.

Hsu commented on the reporting environment in China. In this interview, she drew past and current cases to demonstrate the status of press freedom, the challenges …

Ankita Mukhopadhyay, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Ankita Mukhopadhyay is a journalist, analyst, and product manager. During COVID, she covered several high-profile investigative stories on the pandemic in India for Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcaster. In 2020, she received a grant from the National Geographic Society's COVID-19 emergency fund to complete a written report on equal access to health care for women in the current Gurugram's urban slums. Ankita was relocated to the United States in 2021, and graduated with a master's degree from Northwestern University, specializing in media innovation and content strategy.

Mukhopadhyay published several investigative stories that focused on underrepresented groups during the pandemic, including …

Beimeng Fu, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Beimeng Fu is an award-winning video journalist and documentary filmmaker based in Shanghai, China. She has covered stories out of the Greater China Area, the U.S. and its Asian diasporas, and East Africa. Her bylines have appeared in The Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, The California Sunday Magazine, ABC News, Quartz, South China Morning Post, Sixth Tone, Tencent Guyu Project, and more. During COVID, she recorded the collective mood of people who experienced the two-month-long lockdown in Shanghai in the Spring of 2022. The documentary, “Thank You For Your Cooperation,” was named a finalist in the 2023 Society of Publishers in …

Grace Moon, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Grace Moon is a global audience editor at the Washington Post’s Seoul hub in South Korea, where they produce domestic and international breaking news stories, and live coverage of major events around the world. Grace also serves as the Co-Vice President of the Asia American Journalists Association Seoul and the Co-Director of the Asian American Journalists Association’s young professionals’ affinity group, which mentors students and early-career journalists. During the pandemic, Grace worked as a multimedia freelancer and Korea correspondent for Reporters without Brooders. Her work appeared in places like the BBC Worklife, NBC News, Nikkei Asia, The New York Times …

Elizia Volkmann, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Elizia Volkmann is a British freelance journalist, photographer, and videographer with more than 20 years of experience. Based in Tunisia, Elizia covers international trade, geo-political economics, and humanitarian issues in the Maghreb and Euro-med regions and North Africa. Her work has been published in the Times, Al-Jazeera, Euro News, the BBC, and AI Monitor, among others. During COVID, Elizia covered the impact of the pandemic for both Arab-focused English language press and business publications.

In this interview, Volkmann recounted in vivid detail her experiences surviving COVID and enduring Long COVID symptoms while covering politics and the pandemic impact. She lost …

Aliya Bashir, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Aliya Bashir is an independent journalist covering India and India-administered Kashmir with a focus on human rights, gender justice, women’s issues, the environment, healthcare, education and minorities. Her work has been published in The Guardian, Time, Reuters, Global Press Journal, Global Health Now, and The New Humanitarian among many others. She is the winner of the 2015 Schizophrenia Research Foundation-Press Institute of India “Media for Mental Health” award for best reporting on mental health issues in India. A HEFAT trainee, she has won reporting grants from the International Women’s Media Foundation and Population Reference Bureau.

In this interview, Bashir recalled …

Elettra Fiumi, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Elettra Fiumi is an award-winning film director, producer, and editor making independent documentary films. Elettra’s documentaries explore themes of discovery, innovation, and a sense of place. She’s told stories of people, brands, and places across nations and industries, including in technology, adventure travel, fashion, art, architecture, and education. Elettra’s past films have been featured in the BBC, Teen Vogue, The New Yorker, NBC News Digital, MSNBC, Univision and others. Elettra launched and leads Fiumi Studios, a full-service production and online content strategy company, and worked on content for Netflix, Airbnb, WhatsApp, and Amazon Prime, among many others. Elettra also teaches …

Biena Magbitang, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Biena Magbitang is an award-winning journalist from the Philippines. She has extensive experience reporting climate change, energy policies, and foreign relations in Southeast Asia. She currently serves as the Asia Regional Director for Climate Tracker, where she mentors journalists, reports on high-level summits, and moderates roundtable discussions. She has worked for ABS-CBN Corporation as the head of a digital news channel, production unit manager, and producer for over 10 years. During COVID-19, Ms. Magbitang was in charge of News Production, Management, and Strategy at ABS-CBN and produced numerous broadcast specials on the topic as TV News Executive Producer.

Magbitang was …

Nirasha Piyawadani, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Nirasha Piyawadani is a freelance journalist in Sri Lanka who covers stories on human rights, peace, migrant workers, gender-based myths, social issues on sexual and reproductive, media literacy, and climate and environmental issues. During the pandemic, Nirasha was a research assistant for the ICFJ-UNESCO Global Study: Online Violence Against Women Journalists from 2020 to 2021. She has been selected as a scholar for the International Visitor Leadership Program on Edward R Murrow Program for Journalists, conducted by the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs from February - March 2021. She studies Enhancing the Protection of …

Christine Ro, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Christine Ro, a freelance journalist based in London, the United Kingdom, covers subjects on international development, social justice, environmentalism, and pop culture. Her work has appeared in Nature, BBC, Forbes, and The New York Times, among others.

In this interview, Ro recalled her experiences reporting COVID. She used a solution-based and data-driven approach that relied heavily on scientific research findings to inform the public of policymaking and the impact of COVID-19. She shared the strategies and challenges of reporting subjects and contacting on-the-ground sources remotely in other countries during the pandemic. She also noted gender disparity in family care and …

Caroline Harrap, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Caroline Harrap is a freelance journalist based in Paris, France, writing about French culture, travel, and environmental issues. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, France Today, and Euro News among others. She is also a co-founder of the Society of Freelance Journalists.

When traveling was restricted, Harrap, a freelancer who used to write about travel, had to shift her gear to cover the lockdowns, human interest stories, and personal experiences and insights of the pandemic in Paris for foreign media outlets who couldn't send reporters in. She reflected on the pros and cons of sharing personal experiences …

Jennifer Hassan, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Jennifer Hassan is a London-based breaking news reporter for the foreign desk at the Washington Post. Before joining the Post in 2016, Jennifer worked as a social media editor at MailOnline.

Hassan, a London-based staff reporter for the Washington Post, probably contracted the coronavirus from a trip to Thailand before the U.K. announced its first case. She recalled her personal experiences of surviving COVID early on when no test was available. Once recovered, Jennifer chased the 24/7 news cycle coordinating with the international team across the U.S., South Korea, and the U.K., and published over 900 articles related to coronavirus. …

Maria Hansson Botin, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Maria Hansson Botin is a radio journalist from Sweden. She is a documentary producer at Third Ear Studio. She has several years of experience making documentaries for the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, Sveriges Radio, investigative journalism, news stories, and as a local fixer in Sweden for foreign media outlets.

Hansson Botin quit her freelance job and became an investigative reporter for a production company in the middle of the pandemic. She retrieved her memories of the ground situation in Sweden, the government policies (which were quite different from the other Western countries), and public reactions. This interview highlighted her experiences producing …

Emily Sohn, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Emily Sohn, based in the U.S., is a freelance journalist with 20 years of experience. She explores issues in science, health, and the environment. Her work has been published in Nature, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Discovery News, Science News for Kids, U.S. News & World Report, and National Geographic News, among others.

Sohn tried to explain the science of COVID guidance and the pandemic's psychological and behavioral impacts on children and adults. She reminded the public that science is an evolving process, and journalism plays an important role in analyzing, documenting, and conveying evidence-based information to the …

Jenna Le Bras, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Jenna Le Bra is a French independent journalist based in West Africa. Jenna works for French and foreign media, mainly in print and video media, including L'Orient le Jour, Jeune Afrique, BFMTV, Les Inrocks, Orient XXI, AFP, and Rue89.

Le Bras, a freelance journalist based in Ivory Coast, covered the West African regions for French publications during the pandemic. In this conversation, she recalled how she decided to stay and work in the area despite many challenges, including job security, mobility restrictions, health risks, and mental breakdown. She revealed the challenges and opportunities facing a freelance journalist in a foreign …

Danielle Keeton-Olsen, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Danielle Keeton-Olsen is a freelance journalist who explores issues in business, human rights, healthcare, and environmental subjects in Cambodia. She has been stationed in Cambodia since 2017. Her work has been published in Forbes, the BBC, South China Morning Post, VOD English, Al Jazeera, and HuffPost, among others.

In this interview, Keeton-Olsen recalled the ground situation in January 2020 and the COVID impact on local communities and businesses in Cambodia. She reviewed her journey of becoming a foreign correspondent. She commented on the business model of Cambodian media, the media environment, government control of media, media relationship with the general …

Stefania D'Ignoti, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Stefania D'Ignoti from Catania, Italy, is a freelance journalist who covers migration, conflict, women’s rights, and organized crimes in the broader Mediterranean region. She has reported from Sicily, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, the Syrian border, Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, The Economist, Al Jazeera, The Washington Post, the BBC, the Guardian, and more.

D'Ignoti was forced to shift the reporting focus from the Middle East to Coronavirus in Italy overnight after her flight to Iraq was canceled due to a border lockdown. She mostly covered the impact of COVID-19 on migrants and asylum seekers. …

Megan Clement, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Megan Clement from Montreuil, France, is a journalist, critic, and editor whose work focuses on gender equality, social policy, migration, human rights, arts, and culture. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, Bloomberg, The Sydney Morning Herald, Al Jazeera, The New Humanitarian, and News Deeply, among other publications.

Clement, an Australian journalist living in Paris, France, traveled across three continents and underwent four quarantines for work and family reasons during the pandemic. She published her quarantine experiences in the first-person voice and raised public attention to the mismanagement of quarantine protocols at hotels and public housing. She urged public attention …

Nikita Jain, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Nikita Jain is an independent journalist based in India. She has covered various issues catering to human rights, gender, crime, health, education, and the environment among other things. Her work has been published on national and international platforms including the Wire, Women’s Media Centre, and Core Middle East, among others.

Jain published hundreds of articles during COVID-19 to document the impact of the pandemic on hospitals, patients, and minority groups in India. Her reporting challenged the government-controlled mainstream media that downplayed the severity of the pandemic. She had to dispute government propaganda, negotiate reporting access, and endure mental and physical …

Jess Dipierro Obert, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Jess DiPierro Obert reported on COVID-19 from Haiti. She is an investigative visual journalist, producer, and filmmaker who splits her time between Mexico City, Brooklyn, and Haiti. She focuses on solution-based storytelling around women and abortion, human rights, identity, and mental health in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the U.S. Her byline has appeared in Buzzfeed News, The Guardian, Reuters, Al Jazeera English, the New York Times and others.

DiPierro Obert did investigative reporting on vaccine hesitancy and mental health issues in Haiti during the pandemic, which increased public awareness and conversation about COVID-related issues. In this interview, she …

April Zhu, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

April Zhu is a freelance journalist based in Kenya. Her work focuses on gender, urban inequality, and the Chinese diaspora in Kenya. She is a senior editor at Guernica Magazine where she edits interviews and produces a podcast “Until Everyone is Free”. Her work has appeared in The New York Review of Books Daily, Foreign Policy, The Baffler Magazine, The South China Morning Post Magazine, VOA News, and others.

Zhu's COVID reporting helped people understand the systematic issues in the healthcare system in Africa. She recalled the early lockdowns in Kenya, government responses, and police violence. She criticized Sinophobia and …

Denise Hruby, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Denise Hruby from Vienna, Austria, is an award-winning journalist, writer, and National Geographic Explorer focusing on the climate and biodiversity crises and politics. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic Magazine, The Washington Post, and CNN, among many others. She has won multiple international awards for environmental reporting and feature writing and numerous fellowships and grants. Throughout her career, Denise has reported from more than 25 countries, including the war in Ukraine, terror attacks in Austria, and conflicts in South Sudan among many other national and international events. Before relocating to Vienna in 2018, Denise worked …

Frankie Huang, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Frankie Huang from the United States is a freelance writer, editor, strategist, and illustrator. She writes about culture and food, and she is interested in intersectional feminism, diaspora Asian American identity, social justice, storytelling, the hybrid of translation and creation, and beauty in all its forms. Her work has been published in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, and 1843 Magazine, among many others.

Huang published a few opinion pieces based on her experience in Shanghai in the early days of the pandemic and then returning to the U.S. In this interview, she recalled her journey …

Lenora Chu, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Lenora Chu is a journalist, public speaker, and media strategist with over 15 years of experience in the U.S., China, and Europe. Now based in Berlin, Germany, she covers Europe for the nonprofit news organization Christian Science Monitor. A long-time journalist, Lenora focuses on the intersection of politics, education, and culture in her reporting. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and New York magazine, among others. Her book, “Little Soldier” won the “Best Education Book of 2017” among other awards. In 2019, she was named to the Public Intellectuals Program of the National Committee …

Bukola Adebayo, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Bukola Adebayo is an investigative journalist with over a decade of experience reporting health, science, politics, and education in Africa. She is now the West Africa correspondent for the Thomson Reuters Foundation (Nov. 2022 to now) covering human rights and issues around abuse and exploitation of everyday people in the big economy, environment, and tech space. During COVID, Bukola was the senior producer at the CNN Digital Bureau in Nigeria (Jan 2018- Aug 2021), where she covered many topics, including, human rights, women’s rights, social injustice, political uprisings, human rights, and the environment.

In this interview, Adebayo recalled her experience …

Amanda Morris, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Amanda Morris is a staff reporter at the Washington Post in the United States. Before joining the Post in August 2022, Amanda was an inaugural disability reporting fellow for The New York Times. Previously, she covered science, politics, and national news for outlets, including The Arizona Republic, The Associated Press, and National Public Radio (NPR).

In this interview Morris shared her experiences covering the early months of the pandemic for The Arizona Republic. She recalled challenges such as performing field work as a visual journalist, maintaining work and work-life balance, mental health, and combating public distrust in science reporting and …

Kathy Gannon, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Kathy Gannon covered Afghanistan and Pakistan for the Associated Press as chief correspondent and later news director for 35 years. She also covered the 2006 war in South Lebanon, the Iraq War, the Central Asian States, and the Middle East. Gannon was the only Western journalist allowed in Kabul by the Taliban in the weeks preceding the 2001 U.S.-British offensive in Afghanistan. In April 2014 Gannon was seriously wounded, hit by seven bullets while covering preparations for Afghan national elections when an Afghan police officer opened fire on the car in which she was riding. A Canadian native, Kathy received …