César Rodríguez, Photojournalist - The GroundTruth Project

Farnoush Amiri is one of the busiest journalists we’ve gotten to interview. She is currently a reporter for the Associated Press as part of the Report for America, covering a broad range of stories out of Columbus, Ohio. She is also a vice-president for the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA), and a co-director of the Voices program for the Asian-American Journalists Association (AAJA).

Farnoush talked about her career path, which began at The Hollywood Reporter, where she learned lessons still applicable today. She talked about her current job, and what a week is like covering everything from state government to the pandemic to any other news happening in her coverage area.

She also discussed her most notable story – a piece for NPR’s Code Switch on a harrowing incident involving her family and the police at a time when post-9/11 tensions were high.

Farnoush also spoke about the priorities of the AAJA and what the Voices program does to help train young journalists and build awareness for problematic issues, such as prominent organizations hiring interns largely from Ivy League schools. She also addressed the current priorities for the SAJA and why she is taking on these leadership positions.