I was the only international journalist to report from the boat that lifted the tail of Air Asia QZ8501 from the seabed, 10 January 2015.
ALICE BUDISATRIJO
School of Journalism
Class of 2000
What made you decide to choose Journalism as your major during your study at Indiana University?
I initially chose to study journalism because I was crazy about basketball and wanted to be a reporter and cover NBA games. So not only did I study journalism, but as soon as I heard about the school newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student (IDS), I joined as a sports reporter. My beat was IU women’s softball, but once the IDS sent me to cover an Indiana Pacers game. It was one of the best days I had at IU but overtime I realized that my interest was even broader than just sports news. I’m actually a news junkie.
Tell us about your experience when studying Journalism at Indiana University, especially as an international student.
Being an international student at the J-School was definitely a bit different. I remember most of my Indonesian friends were in the Business School and they always studied together. At the J-School I only knew two other international students, and most of the American students had never heard of Indonesia. But one of the professors, Dr. Raymer, had just published a photo book
on Islam for which he traveled all over Indonesia. So he talked a lot about Indonesia in the photojournalism class and it piqued the other students’ interest.
After five days of no shower in Tacloban covering the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, I caught a ride with BBC presenter George Alagiah to get back to Manila via Cebu, December 2013.
After graduating from Indiana University, what career path did you choose and how did you start on the path you chose? Tell us why you liked the career you chose and its challenges.
After graduation, I got a job as a videotape editor at a TV network called the Florida’s News Channel in Tallahassee. Unfortunately, the small network couldn’t sponsor a work visa and I wasn’t ready to go home after less than one year of work experience in
the US. So after six months, I moved to Washington, DC, to work for a non-pro t called the Human Rights Campaign. Even though it wasn’t a media company, the skills that I learned at IU came in handy when they needed someone to run their media center, which is essentially an in-house facility to produce video/radio public service announcements, event videos, and even live interviews with TV and radio networks.
In 2006, I saw that democracy has allowed for a free and vibrant media industry in Indonesia so I went back and worked for Metro TV. About two years later, I joined BBC News as a producer and later correspondent. I stayed with the BBC for seven years but it felt like time flew by. I went to places in Indonesia and some other countries in the region that I never thought I’d go to. I met tons of fascinating and inspiring people, and a few evil ones, and learned to speak to all of them with equal curiosity and an open mind.
Tell us about your career now in Indonesia.
In 2015 I received the Chevening scholarship and a scholarship from the University of Oxford to study for a Master of Public Policy. After I finished the course last year, I decided to join the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Indonesia as its head of communications.
Can you explain about the challenges you face in what you’re doing now?
Since my previous experiences were mostly media-related, the learning curve in my new job is quite steep. I am tasked with communicating what UNDP can offer to continue supporting Indonesia’s development, while the organization is repositioning itself from a long-held donor role to a development services provider. Fortunately, my network in the media and experience in using social media to deliver messages and engage with communities has helped a lot. In the end I hope the work will make an impact because that is why I joined the UN—to see more direct and positive impact on people who need them most, which often news stories can’t do.
Patrolling the Malacca Strait with the Indonesian navy at the height of the South East Asia’s migrant crisis in May 2015. I was second from the right.
If only you could return to your college years, what would you have done differently?
I’m not sure there is much that I would’ve done differently, except perhaps tried to get slightly better grades! But I wrote for the school newspaper, volunteered at the Asian Culture Center, played intramural basketball, and worked various jobs so I could have extra money. Could I have spent more time reading and studying? Of course, but I gave 110% in learning the skills I had the most passion for, which were reporting, filming and video editing.
What suggestions can you give to future Journalism students, especially at Indiana University?
If you’re going to study journalism, be sure you do it because you genuinely enjoy talking to people, chasing a story, investigating why something happens, and questioning what people say. It may seem like a glamourous position because you could sometimes get to places most people don’t. But the job often demands you to challenge the people you rub elbows with. It’s not a job for someone who wants to be liked or popular. With the right attitude down, the J-School will equip you with skills you’ll need on the eld. Take as much advantage of that because broadcast equipment is expensive so it may not be easy to learn to operate them outside of the school. If you learn it well, and you show up as an intern or in your first job knowing how to do it, you’ll impress the hell out of any producer/reporter/cameraman.
Can you mention one most memorable moment during your career as a journalist?
I think what I’ll remember the most is the people I’ve been fortunate to work with. The best journalists I know have some or all of these traits: sharp wit, high curiosity, genuine interest in people, and a wicked sense of humor. They make the best travel companions even in disaster or conflict zones. In a breaking news situation, we work around the clock, sometimes with little food or basic facilities, so having a solid team is key to keep us all productive, and sane. The BBC teams I worked with on stories like Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, the search for MH370 in Vietnam and Australia, and the Air Asia crash, among others, exemplified that.