ABOUT

Tell us who you are!

Aaron Akinyemi, Multimedia Broadcast Journalist and Producer.

So what do you actually do?

I film and write stories about global social issues and human rights - typically with a focus on Africa. I also occasionally present on TV and radio.

What has your career path been?

When I was 14 (in Year 10), I applied for a two-week work experience placement at News International (publishers of The Times, The Sun and the News of the World). After going on to do A Levels in English, Politics and Sociology, further placements followed at The Guardian, the BBC World Service and The Voice.

I read English and History at Queen Mary, University of London, with a minor in journalism and French at City University. During my studies, I wrote for the university paper, and the summer I graduated, I got a job at a small news company. I then went on to various roles at CNN, Newsweek, the BBC, ITV News and the International Business Times, among others.

Five years after graduating, I branched out into broadcast journalism when I got a freelance position at BBC 2’s flagship nightly TV news programme Newsnight. My role was to produce segments of the show, write cues and briefs for presenters such as Emily Maitlis, Gavin Esler, Kirsty Wark and Mishal Hussein. I then went on to various other roles at BBC World Service radio and TV, BBC Current Affairs TV and digital and BBC Africa/BBC World.

Journalism is a very difficult and competitive industry to get into - I spent many years freelancing or in fixed-term roles and sometimes had long periods of unemployment in between jobs which was very demoralising. During periods of unemployment, I would search for any self-improvement initiatives I could get my hands on to boost my employability and to also use the free time to see the world.

I successfully applied for several all-expenses-paid youth conferences and fellowships to various destinations around the world such as Brussels, Canada, Poland, Austria, Haiti, America and even Japan. These fellowships presented great networking opportunities and also provided me with material which I used to write freelance articles for publications such as The Guardian, which in turn boosted my professional portfolio.

All these experiences combined, ultimately helped me secure a permanent staff position in my dream role at the BBC.

What is the best part of your job?

The best part about my job is telling important stories I'm passionate about, stories that matter and stories that have some sort of positive impact on people's lives. It's hugely satisfying and fulfilling when people reach out to me on social media to say something I've done made has them think about a particular issue in a different way, or has inspired them to embark on some kind of initiative or project.

A few years ago, I made a short film about an elderly woman who had lived in the same East London flat for half a century and was campaigning to prevent the local council from demolishing her home. After my film was published online and on the BBC London evening news, her family told me that I had played a role in saving the block from being demolished.

It’s humbling to have the platform and reach to be able to affect that kind of change.

More recently, I wrote an article about Babatunde Olatunji, a Nigerian drummer who went to America in the 1950s, became friends with Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X, and took part in the US civil rights movement.

The response from readers and colleagues to this little-known piece of African and African-American history I helped shed a light on was incredible. Olatunji’s surviving family also told me they loved the piece and that it inspired the late drummer’s former dancers to get back in touch after they had read the article. Someone even messaged me on social media to say it inspired his university project!

The other great part of my job is undoubtedly travelling the world meeting interesting people to tell fascinating stories on the screen and on the page. I was recently in America covering the 2020 US presidential election from Atlanta, Texas and Washington D.C. While there, I interviewed the first ever Nigerian-American elected to US Congress in front of the US Capitol building.

This summer, I will be travelling to Tokyo to film stories for the Olympics. I’ve filmed in or reported from Tanzania, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Djibouti, Kenya, Brussels, Delhi, Bonn, Warsaw and the Caribbean.

What inspired you to do your job?

I’ve known I wanted to be a journalist since I was 12. I thoroughly loved writing right from primary school. I was always good at it - it came naturally to me, so I knew writing was a passion I wanted to pursue as a career.

I have also always been very interested in the world - global cultures, travelling and social justice. My Dad travelled extensively around the world as part of his job as management consultant and bank director and as a kid, I would listen enraptured to his fascinating tales of his adventures across America, Africa, Asia and Latin America. I idolised my Dad and knew that I also wanted to follow in his international globetrotting footsteps.

One piece of advice for someone starting in your role?

My advice is to get as much work experience as soon as you can. This will give you an idea about whether or not journalism is a career you will enjoy. And if it is, work experience will let you know which aspect of journalism you’re more interested in - writing, news, broadcast, TV or radio etc. It also gives you experience and arms you with examples of your work which you can show to potential employers.

Finding a good mentor in the industry is also important. This is someone who can give you advice, constructive criticism on your work and also help you with contacts and networking within the industry.

Final words?

Try not to compare yourself to others. We all have our own individual journeys. I didn't achieve everything in my career overnight or get where I wanted to be as quickly as I wanted to. But I ultimately got there and so will you when it's your time. Work hard, keep trying and seek help and advice from people who have made it to where you want to be.

Check out Aaron’s socials below!

DAY IN THE LIFE

Journalism can be unpredictable at times. Some days I could be working in London, some days I could be filming in a city in Africa or in the US. Other days I could be writing an in-depth feature article for the BBC News website.

My typical day starts at around 9 or 9.30am - I’ll skim through the news headlines to see the main news topics of the day and occasionally listen to the Newsday radio programme on the BBC World Service to get a sense of the news agenda for the day.

I’ll then go through my emails to see what the news prospects across Africa are from our bureaux and colleagues in Lagos and Nairobi. I’ll also scope out the global news agenda from our various global offices around the world.

In addition, I will check what we call “the wires” for the latest news. The wires are news agencies we subscribe to that deliver breaking news via video and text. Examples include AFP, Reuters and the Press Association.

Then at 10.30am, I’ll join a morning editorial conference call with the rest of my team to discuss the news agenda for the day. In this meeting, I’ll talk about anything interesting I’ve seen that we should be covering and hear from my colleagues about anything that’s trending on social media that we should be covering for our audience, which spans around 300 million people on the African continent alone. We will also talk about ongoing projects we are all working on.

During this meeting, I may be assigned to a particular story to work on.

From 11am, I will start working on a story I’ve been assigned to do. I’ll do research online and use social media, contacts and sometimes our internal contacts database (which is vast!) to find interviewees for my story.

It can be very difficult to get people to speak to you so patience is absolutely key! You have to strike a delicate balance between persistence and following up, and not bombarding someone with constant emails and phone calls, which may scare them off. Good intuition and emotional intelligence is key when it comes to dealing with interviewees.

When an interviewee responds to my message, I’ll arrange an informal pre-interview chat to find out more about their story and if they are a good speaker suitable to be on camera. The pre-interview chat is a key part of the journalistic process. This is where you can discover new things about the interviewee that could determine the trajectory of your story. You may uncover things that to them might seem mundane or unimportant, but could end up being the ultimate selling point and top line of your story!

I’ll use the pre-interview chat to help me draft my questions for the on-camera interview and draft a shot list to guide how I will film the story.

I will then go out and film my interviewee with my camera, microphones and tripods on hand. I’ll make sure I film a variety of shots and sequences and “b-roll” for my edit. B roll is general footage of the surrounding location and of the interviewee doing something interesting, which I can use during the edit to make the film more visually engaging.

After filming, I will import all my footage onto my MacBook and spend hours going through everything to pick the most interesting bits of the interview for my final edit.

I will then edit the interview together using Final Cut Pro X. The edit is really where the story starts coming to life. I enjoy the creativity of structuring a story in the edit and being creative with colours and effects. I will then produce different versions of the video for our various platforms (the BBC News website, Twitter, Instagram and our various international language services).

Finally, I will publish my story on our various platforms and usually finish work at 6pm.