**Shone Satheesh (India) is an AFPC Scholarship Awardee for 2022.**

Shone Satheesh is an award-winning Multimedia Journalist with over ten years of experience covering the intersection of caste, human rights, and policy in India. He is an AFPC Scholarship Awardee from the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the USA for 2022. His work has appeared in Al Jazeera, DW.com, The Straits Times, Livemint, Scroll.in, and Firstpost.com. His reporting seeks to unearth the hidden and apparent structures of caste-based discrimination that impact various aspects of Indian society, such as housing, labor, healthcare, and education. As an oppressed caste journalist working in the upper-caste dominated Indian newsrooms, he believes that reporting on caste needs to acknowledge the humanity and dignity of victims and survivors without resorting to sensationalism and tokenism while also bringing to light the role of the perpetrators. He is currently pursuing an MA at Columbia Journalism School in the Politics cohort, focusing on long-form narratives.

**Shone Satheesh from India received his award from Damon Jones, the Chief Communications Officer of Procter & Gamble, during the Annual Foreign Press Awards Ceremony on December 15, 2022, in New York.**

What was the primary reason you chose to pursue your master's studies in the United States as a foreign journalist?

Though I had worked as a journalist for around ten years, I had never received formal training. After stints in various capacities in the newsroom, like editing, reporting, photojournalism, and video, I decided to focus on writing about society and politics. The MA Politics concentration at Columbia Journalism School in New York offers training in time-worn journalism techniques and expertise in subject areas. The opportunity to learn from leading thinkers and writers in the industry was one of the primary reasons for me to choose to do a Master’s in the US.

You were recently awarded a scholarship from the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States. How did you feel about this recognition?

It was incredibly thrilling, humbling, and an honor to receive the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents scholarship award. As a journalist from a marginalized caste in a developing country like India, the recognition reinforces my resolve to continue reporting on under-reported stories in underserved communities.

As a journalist, how do you expect your studies and the support from the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States to help you advance your career?

The immersive training and in-depth specialization acquired at Columbia serve to deepen skill sets and broaden perspectives on a variety of issues, ultimately helping to ask the right questions and unearth important stories. The resources and professional networking opportunities offered by the cohort of the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents will be pivotal for me in understanding international and contemporary affairs in the United States.

What made you decide to become a journalist? How do you hope to make an impact in the journalism field of your country of origin?

Growing up I wanted to be a writer, and I always had a deeply inquisitive mind. I became a journalist as it combined two of my interests — curiosity about the world and the opportunity to write. In 2014, the rise of a right-wing government in India was accompanied by a significant increase in disinformation and fake news campaigns. In an atmosphere vitiated by communal polarization, attacks on minorities, and attempts to suppress and discredit journalists, I find it all the more important for those of us in the media to reaffirm our commitment to reporting with fairness, accuracy, and fearlessness. Learning about structural discrimination in the United States has equipped me to ask the right questions about issues of inequality and rights violations in India, and I intend to cover those stories with a newfound rigor and insight. In India, where upper-caste journalists dominate 90% of the newsrooms, I find myself in a unique situation to ask tough questions and ensure diversity and representation in the newsrooms.

As a foreign journalist, what defines your mission?

As a journalist from a foreign country, my mission is to uncover overt and covert instances of discrimination faced by people who have been historically marginalized. As someone who has covered caste in India, I am always looking for similarities and differences in how structural discrimination operates around the world. This allows me to ask perceptive questions as an outsider.

What do you think is the greatest threat to journalism today?

In my opinion, journalism faces its biggest threats from monopolistic proprietors of technology who hold power to control narratives. Social media has permanently altered the supply chain of media, making it dependent on entities that can amplify or short-circuit the spread of relevant information. These power centers are also beholden to political actors, rogues or demagogues, who can influence events in real life through targeted disinformation and malpractice, as we saw with Cambridge Analytica, the US elections, and human rights violations in Myanmar. The unregulated and unaccountable nature of these entities make them a threat to journalism, which has always been a public good.

What is the state of press freedom in your country of origin and how do you hope that your work will encourage more people to access independent and credible information?

Press freedom in India is at an all-time low. The 2022 Press Freedom Index ranked India at 150 out of 180 countries, the lowest it has ever been. Journalists routinely face harassment, false cases, death threats, and censorship by governments at the Center and states.

The training and exposure I’m getting as a student, and a foreign journalist in the US will be instrumental in creating a culture of accountability and transparency, besides the rigor and excellence. By exploring meaningful questions around relevant topics, I believe I’ll be able to produce in-depth and engaging stories that will draw more people in. I believe that journalists should create a community of viewers and readers who they’re accountable to, to foster an atmosphere of trust, credibility, and engagement.