Megha Rajagopalan (@meghara) brings top-notch investigative journalism to Buzzfeed - yes, the site that rose to prominence based on listicles. She installed Buzzfeed’s first bureau in Beijing, only to be kicked out of the country after revealing the depths of China’s police state. Reporting on surveillance and human rights has been the hallmark of her career, from writing about Myanmar’s opening up to following around Filipino police officers committing atrocities.

We talk about the questionable endeavor that is pursuing a journalism degree (5:08), cutting her teeth covering politics for Reuters in Beijing (14:22), starting Buzzfeed’s bureau in China (24:00), her bombshell story on China’s muslim internment camps and getting kicked out of China (29:30), moving to Israel and then London (41:19), missing out on a trip to Tibet and her prospects for ever returning to China (44:17), her story on U.S. government funding for Filipino police committing atrocities in their war on drugs (50:54), and she takes on the lightning round (58:45).

Here are links to some of the things we talked about:

My exclusive about Brazil’s environmental protections under coronavirus - https://reut.rs/2WQbRFN

My story on Brazil meat exports to China stalling under coronovirus - https://reut.rs/2x66jwq

Steve Coll’s Private Empire: Exxonmobil and American power - https://amzn.to/3bMAuHG

Michael Lewis essay J-School Confidential - https://buff.ly/39Yx1Vn

Megha’s story about Xinjiang internment camps - https://bit.ly/2waFzdM

Her story about US-support for Philippines atrocities - https://bit.ly/348bnN8

David Sanger’s The Perfect Weapon - https://amzn.to/2V1wpsr

Mike Forsythe on Twitter - https://bit.ly/2X4MO26

Rukmini Callimachi on Twitter - http://bit.ly/2Vfw7hz

Nikole Hannah-Jones on Twitter - https://bit.ly/39I9V55

John Hersey’s Hiroshima - https://amzn.to/3aMrQcq

Wall Street Journal’s Pulitzer-winning “9 to Nowhere” - https://bit.ly/3dUHTXC

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Music: LoveChances (makaihbeats.net) by Makaih Beats

From: freemusicarchive.org

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