Secunder Kermani is a reporter for BBC Newsnight. He previously worked for BBC London TV News, and the Islam Channel amongst others. He has reported on issues around terrorism, crime and immigration and studied History and Spanish at the University of Manchester.
The Asian Voice caught up with the young reporter just after he got back from a reporting trip to Sweden.
First off, how did he decide to become a journalist?
“I actually decided I wanted to go into journalism pretty late on,” he explained. “I had finished an undergraduate degree in History and Spanish – and realised I had no idea what to do next. I ended up enrolling in a Masters course for TV Journalism at Goldsmiths around a week before it started as it was always something I had a vague interest in – but even then I wasn’t really sure I wanted to become a reporter until halfway through the course – when I began to more fully appreciate the importance of exploring different perspectives in the media and how I could potentially contribute to that.”
Secunder is fast establishing a name for himself in the elite arena of Newsnight - a programme watched by movers, shakers, and many others. Secunder says it is a great place to be.
“Newsnight is a great place to work – you’re surrounded by so many people with real expertise in their fields, and you have the space and time to try and explore issues in more depth and with nuanced analysis. One of the challenges I always find is thinking how to try and add something fresh and different to a news story that may have been reported on all day. I have to think what can I tell the audience that they perhaps might not have heard up until now? That’s never easy – but it’s important to always bear in mind.
I’ve only been a fulltime reporter at Newsnight for around six months now, so at the moment I’m just trying to learn more and be the best I can in my current position. In the future I would like to do more foreign reporting perhaps, but right now I’m just concentrating on making the most of the great opportunities I’ve been given.”
So does Secunder’s media ability have any antecedents? As it turns out...
“My father makes documentaries and it sounds cheesy but I’d have to say he’s probably my hero. You might remember the Channel 4 series “Karachi Kops” in the 90s set in a Pakistani police station – that was one of his programmes and it taught me a lot about how to develop narratives, and how just being an observer in unusual situations can be really enlightening for viewers. I also saw firsthand growing up how much drive and energy he had to have to get where he is now.”
Making film reports for Newsnight must be many journalists’ dream. The films tend to be thoughtful and nicely shot.
“The last story I did was exploring what traditional Labour voters who had now decided to vote for UKIP thought of Jeremy Corbyn. It was one of my editor’s ideas – and together we decided where I should film – and picked Hartlepool. I set up a bit of filming the day before and then just headed up and basically walked around the town talking to people!
Before that I was sent to Hamburg as Denmark had closed the border with Germany to prevent refugees coming in. However, when I got there the border had re-opened. Of course I didn’t want the trip go to waste and so tried to find another story. In Hamburg station I met some Swedish activists who were helping refugees get from Germany to Sweden – they let me follow them on the journey and that became our story.” The story has just been broadcast on the BBC News Channel and the Victoria Derbyshire Show on BBC 2.
Another recent story Secunder did was about a British Christian charity called the “Street Angels” who help drunk tourists in the holiday resort of Magaluf. “There had been some reporting on how authorities in Magaluf were planning on cleaning up its rather debauched image. I thought that through the Street Angels we could get an insight into whether the place was actually changing – and I was interested in the apparent juxtaposition between drunken revelry and Christian values!”
Look out for Secunder’s Newsnight films in coming years as he is sure to accumulate many more interesting stories for his portfolio.
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“Right now I’m just concentrating on making the most of the great opportunities I’ve been given.”
Secunder Kermani, Newsnight
