[Behind the BBC Story] Anne Soy

Back in 1991, World Service Television (known as BBC World News today) launches with its first half-hour bulletin across Europe. Skip forward to 2014, and the BBC is identified as a leader in global breaking news and the most-shared news brand on Twitter. I chatted to Anne Soy, one of the BBC's bilingual reporters based in Nairobi who actually broke the story of the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi for the BBC in 2013 and has a Twitter following of 48,000+, about one of the most significant news stories she’s covered in her BBC career and her daily on-the-job stresses…

1. Tell us more about the specific story featured in this image.

Soy: My colleague Charlotte Attwood and I were at a laboratory in Bamako, Mali, reporting about efforts to find a viable vaccine for Ebola. It was an uplifting story to do at a time when there were many heart-rending tales of death and devastation.

Soy and Attwood reporting from a laboratory in Bamako, Mali on efforts to find a viable vaccine for Ebola.

2. Definitely. Give us a brief overview of your personal story – your studies and career highlights package so far.

Soy: I completed my undergraduate degree in information sciences, specialising in media studies, from Moi University in western Kenya in 2005. I got my first job as a reporter at the Kenya Television Network shortly afterwards. It was at KTN that an editor asked me to produce a weekly segmented feature on HIV/Aids. I took on the challenge and reported on the subject for five years. I always told the stories through people who were living with, or affected by, HIV and Aids, apart from talking to experts. In 2009, I was nominated for the award of UN Person of the Year in Kenya. I won six other awards. It wasn’t always easy interviewing the experts – the researchers and medics – so I yearned to learn more about health and healthcare. I enrolled for a Master of Public Health/ Epidemiology degree at Moi University in 2011. The course really broadened my understanding of health issues. I credit the KTN editor for guiding me towards health reporting, something I continued with when I joined the BBC in 2013.

Reporting on Ebola was tough. The world went into panic mode, consequently transport was paralysed and there was the constant risk of exposure to infection. I have covered risky stories like war and insurgency and my family has been fine with it, but in the case of Ebola it was very difficult to convince them that I also needed to go where the outbreak was to tell the story. The BBC management are very supportive and understanding. There were measures put in place to ensure we were safe. Eventually I did manage to tell the story to the world. It’s always tough witnessing the devastation first-hand but that motivated me to want to tell the story more, so that the affected people could get help.

3. What else do you enjoy most about your daily duties, and which aspects cause you the most stress?

Anne Soy

Soy: I love the spontaneity. No two days are the same. There are days I report to work and end up spending the night in a different country. We have to make decisions on our feet. Teamwork is everything. Also, being at the centre of unfolding news when the world needs information, and being able to report and explain everything to our audience, is fulfilling.

While I find the job fulfilling, I’m still learning to balance its demands with raising a young family. I have two daughters aged eight and five-and-a-half. I’m not always home to do homework with them, but I try my best to be there for them when I’m in Kenya. My husband is also very supportive and understanding. It helps that he is an editor, though in a different media house. Luckily he doesn’t need to travel much. He once told the kids that he needed to travel out of the country for work and they put up a big fight, telling him moms are the ones who should travel while dads stay at home with the children.

4. Too funny, especially as media's one of the fastest-changing industries thanks to the fast-pace of technological change that disrupts the news flow and traditional methods of reporting. Elaborate on the specific journalism/media trends you're most looking forward to in the industry this year.

Soy: Mobile technology. It has given us the ability to report faster than we would using traditional methods. In breaking news situations particularly, the mobile phone has proven to be a powerful tool. There is simply no limit to what we can do with it; we can deliver for radio, television and online platforms.

That’s for sure. Follow Soy on Twitter, or you can click here for more on BBC World News, visit their website and follow their Twitter feed.