by Shivani Sarwal
On 3 September, award-winning journalist Clare Baldwin joined Treena Nairne for an engaging discussion at the AWA offices, where more than thirty WiPS members and guests gathered to hear insights from the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner.
The hour that followed was charged with quiet intensity as Clare shared the investigative methods behind her reporting of the highly politicized Philippines drug war (2018) and the expulsion and murder of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar (2019). Her work was built on painstaking evidence-gathering and data analysis. “Photos, GPS coordinates, police records, interviews – map patterns and look for inconsistencies; that’s where the story lies,” she explained.
Clare noted that being underestimated as a female journalist often gave her greater traction – “a superpower”, she called it.
When Treena asked about balancing the need to expose the truth against the potential harm a story could cause, Clare emphasized a journalist’s ethical obligation to safeguard sources and subjects and to give everyone in a story a chance to respond to any allegations against them.
An audience member asked whether she had ever backed away from a story due to pressure from police or other authorities. She hadn’t. With victims and their families she is careful to explain how public their stories will become. “Trust is key,” she said. “Ask permission and bring humanity to the conversation.”
Clare closed the evening with a poignant reminder: these stories matter. They ripple out – reported, requoted and reshared – often with a far wider reach and impact than one could ever anticipate.