MediaTips: Melanie Gouby, the Investigator Rooting out Evil
Melanie Gouby is an investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker who focuses on human rights, the environment, conflict, politics, and pointing out evil in the world. Gouby has worked in Sri Lanka and covered the trials of warlords in the Netherlands. She made a big splash as one of the stars of the Oscar-nominated, Netflix-backed documentary Virunga, as she led the investigation into an oil company’s illegal activities in a national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Melanie Gouby took the time to talk about herself, survival tips, and overall reporter experiences as well as Virunga in this Q and A with Reynolds School of Journalism student Michael Dugan.
Q: Can you tell me a little bit more about yourself and why you chose journalism?
Melanie Gouby: I guess I decided I wanted to be a journalist when I was about 15. I think why was mostly because I wanted to travel a lot and see the world and experience it. And I realized that was a pretty good way to do that and travel, meet people, and write about it. And I also think I was interested in finding out about human nature and why people go to war, hurt each other, or why Europe is so well off and Africa is so poor and what creates evil basically.
Above, a trailer for Virunga which profiles Gouby at work.
Q: I noticed in some of your work, or at least in Virunga, that you focus on Africa. Is there a specific reason or is that where you were drawn to when you were started?
Melanie Gouby: The first country I worked in was Sri Lanka. And I guess the places I work (in), there is some personal connection that draws me to these places. So, when I was 22–23 I worked as a waitress in a restaurant in Paris and all the cooks were Sri Lankan refugees. So, I started talking to them and learning about the conflicts in their home country. Then I did my master’s in journalism, I guess like you’re doing, and did my assignment on Sri Lanka, then I started working in Sri Lanka. Then I got a job with an NGO that sent me to The Hague to cover the international criminal court and at the time all the trials were about a Congolese warlord. That’s what initiated my interest and got me working in the Congo. So it’s more like a personal connection and things that make me interested in a country and drives me to go there.
Q: As a journalist who deals with less than ideal environments sometimes, what is one piece of advice that international journalists need to take into serious consideration?
Melanie Gouby: If you are starting out, take it slowly and realize that you need to learn a lot of the basic stuff and (be) thoughtful about who and how you are talking to people. It is really hard to go into a foreign country and start writing about something that you probably don’t know too much about. I feel like at the beginning it is useful to take your time and don’t just drop in there and think you will come up with a massive scoop within the first six months working as a journalist. Make sure to be patient, open-minded, talk to the people, and impregnate yourself with the culture and read a lot about the place and the history. One of the things that makes good journalism is really knowing about the place you are writing about or reporting on. So I think you should really take your time. Like in my first year when I was in Congo I wasn’t doing reporting myself. I was training Congolese journalists and producing a radio program but they were working on the reporting so I was learning a lot from them. There are many, many ways you can do that but as in learning, as in I learned in a newsroom or getting experience on the ground, doing something a little bit different than journalism is pretty useful. You (just) mentioned having dinner with mercenaries (Note: this is a scene in Virunga) but by the time this actually happened I was already living in Congo for a year and I really knew what I was doing. I knew where we were meeting and I had already figured out all the security aspects since I knew the environment very well. I was very much in control of everything I was doing.
Virunga focuses partly on the plight of gorillas, but as she explains that was not Gouby’s own expertise.
Q: Now looking more at Virunga, how was it to work with those animals?
Melanie Gouby: Oh I’m sorry you are working with the wrong person. I didn’t really work with the gorillas. Like I went to see the gorillas and have written some articles on gorilla conservation but I wasn’t there when they were filming the part with the gorillas. I was really doing my investigation on the oil company and did a lot of other stuff on Virunga but I am not a wildlife photographer or journalist. I find that stuff very interesting and I enjoy reading about that. But that’s not necessarily why I do it. Like I went to see them a few times and they are amazing and such beautiful creatures and really impressive and close to you.
Q: I plan on studying abroad in the future and will have some free time on the weekends. What would you recommend to someone who is trying to get their feet in the water?
Melanie Gouby: Well what you should do then is think of a subject area and do research on that. Like for wildlife conservation, Costa Rica is a great place for that. So I would try to get in touch with organizations in Costa Rica that deal with wildlife conservation and meet people and see what would be an interesting subject for you to explore. You know that’s how you find a good story, you have something that interests you and you start talking to people. Then eventually you will have an angle that will emerge. And if it (happens on) your first day you should really do the reporting and try to write it. Then try pitching it to a smaller publication or somewhere you think will publish your first article.
Q: I just put two and two together and realized it is super late your time. So I just have one more question. In your opinion, what is your best piece of work you have done so far?
Melanie Gouby: I don’t want to say Virunga because that’s not. Like I don’t feel like I have one best piece of work. I feel like all the work I did in Congo is my best piece of work because, aside from Virunga, I was doing daily news reports for wire (services), for AP, and for newspapers. And I feel like that’s my best piece of work because I got to understand the conflict and actors and be able to report in a way that was very in-depth and that a lot of journalists didn’t... So that was great and really exciting.
Reporting by Michael Dugan for the Reynolds Sandbox
Note: Some of the answers were trimmed for conciseness and clarity.
