Becoming the Voice of the Silent, From Yahoo News to The Quint, The Life of a Video Journalist
Amy Goodman said, “Going to where the silence is, that is the responsibility of a journalist.” From lawyer to journalist, Today’s woman dreamer, Shibani Gokhale, contributes to publications such as Yahoo News, Canada, and The Quint and her new original series, Broken Down, where she breaks down the world’s most pressing topics. Shibani writes, “I love being a voice for the silent. I love shedding light on issues that the general population is not even aware of. I genuinely enjoy making my videos. I enjoy the process of pitching, scripting, hosting, filming and editing.” Ever wondered what the life of a news producer and Law/Policy Journalist is like? Enjoy Shibani’s story below.
1) You are a woman of many talents: A Lawyer, Video Journalist, Lawyer, Legal correspondent. Tell us your story. How did you find the time and discipline to pursue so many passions? What made you make the transition from law to journalism?
I decided I was going to be a journalist when I was 16. I chanced upon Indian journalist and activist Pinki Virani’s book about child sexual abuse in India, ‘Bitter Chocolate’, and it changed my life. Her book played a huge part in the passing of India's first child sexual abuse legislation in 2005. I knew in that moment that I was going to spend the rest of my life trying to do what she did. But life is complicated and it gets in the way. While I applied to journalism schools in Canada for my undergrad, my grandmother in India was diagnosed with cancer. I chose to live with her. I didn't feel comfortable studying journalism in India so I chose law and I chose ILS because it was literally 10 mins away from my grandma's house. These are decisions I do not regret for a minute- one, because I got to spend valuable time with my grandma during her final years and two, because I fell in love with the law. It gave me access to my passion for social justice. I interned at human rights organisations, participated in moot court competitions and overall had a wonderful time. But somewhere around fourth year, I was drawn back to journalism. And watching several powerful female journalists such as Christiane Amanpour, Ashleigh Banfield, and Ann Curry striving to make a difference in the world, further reinforced my aspirations to pursue journalism in the United States. I applied to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and surprisingly got in! After graduation I interned at the New York Law Journal before accepting a full time position as a digital journalist at ATTN: in Los Angeles. After producing over 120 videos and garnering over 250 million views for all them combined, I went on to work at Brut. Inc to help develop their India page. I’m currently working as an online video journalist at Yahoo! News Canada from Vancouver. I’m also a video contributor at The Quint. I host, produce and edit videos concerning North American news for The Quint’s Indian audience. I have also launched my own news show ‘Broken Down’ where I highlight and dig into stories not covered by the mainstream media in North America and India.
2) With your strong passion for story-telling and social justice, you also studied at the Columbia Journalism school. While there, you reported in the Bronx on housing laws and right to counsel for tenants. You also worked on a documentary about undocumented immigrants and the rise of the sanctuary movement in New York City. Tell us about these projects/ your experience at Columbia.
Columbia Journalism School was a truly life changing experience for me. It was so different from law school and just school in India in general, I was shocked. Every class I took functioned as a small news organisation by itself. So our professors were our editors and we would pitch, write, produce stories as if it were for a job. Once approved, the stories would be published on our class' website and social media channels. It gave me real first hand experience into how a journalist functions. I took a variety of classes ranging from print to audio to video. I focused on stories that were an intersection of social justice and the law. So I wrote about tenants getting evicted without counsel so developers could gentrify neighbourhoods for my print class, reported on how South Asians are voting during the elections for my audio and video classes and finally produced a documentary about undocumented immigrants for my doc classes. The documentary was aired at several locations across the city and garnered praise from one of my idols, Chistiane Amanpour of CNN herself! I'm still shocked that I met her and she took the time to watch the doc. I also reported a 5000 word masters project on the newly elected Freelance Isn't Free Act in NYC because I was shocked to discover freelancers have almost NO LEGAL RECOURSE. Overall, it prepared me for the real world and I will forever be grateful for everything I learnt from Columbia.
3) You are also an online video journalist at Yahoo! News Canada from Vancouver, and a video contributor at The Quint. How do you find the inspiration for the many stories you tell? What are your strategies and tips for capturing an audience's attention?
I am an inherently curious person and journalism lets me pick a new topic to be curious about (and get paid for it) every single day. I love the freedom and flexibility I have in reporting on issues pertaining to three countries- India, America, and Canada. Amy Goodman said, “Going to where the silence is, that is the responsibility of a journalist.” I love being a voice for the silent. I love shedding light on issues that the general population is not even aware of. I genuinely enjoy making my videos. I enjoy the process of pitching, scripting, hosting, filming and editing. I'm a political-legal journalist so my hope is for my work to have such impact, that legislators will be forced to pass a law to try and solve the issue. As for strategies and tips, I'm constantly trying to adapt to changing social media platforms and picking up their algorithms.
4) As a #Dreamcatchers platform, we have to ask, what is your next big dream?
I think my dream is to just keep doing good work for good platforms for as long as I can. I want to raise as much awareness as possible and I'm hopeful that I can aid in the passing of a sorely needed legislation for vulnerable populations one day. I would also love to work for companies like CBC or CNN and devise unique modern ways of telling stories for their platforms.
Shibani Gokhale is a video journalist based in Canada. She primarily works for Yahoo! News Canada and is also a video contributor at The Quint. She recently launched her own show ‘Broken Down’, which highlights and digs into important news stories of a legal and political nature which are not covered by the mainstream media. She has a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University, NY and a law degree from ILS, India. She has also worked at ATTN: in Los Angeles and Brut. in India.