Laisha, Political and Judiciary Journalist

“Question things. It’s your right to question. And it’s your right to get answers,” says Laisha Ahmed Zaki, local journalist covering news on law and courts.

Laisha expressed that she has always been passionate about writing, and journalism is a career path that allows her to do that.

“I never had to take this as a job. Rather this feels more like a passion. I like to ask questions, and question things. Journalism is where I get to get the answers and present them as well,” Laisha said, explaining why she got interested in reporting.

“I mainly cover judiciary and politics. And covering court cases has its own advantages as well. One thing in account is that I get to learn a lot from every hearing that I go.”

Laisha believes that we have so much fewer people interested in journalism in the Maldives because of lack of a proper career guidance system in schools.

“For instance, if we get to experience different career paths through our school curriculum, it would have been much easier and affirmative to go on with the best career path that suits a person.”

When asked about press freedom here in the Maldives, she revealed, “there are challenges to press freedom. Many as I believe.”

She also added that press freedom is not just about being able to write on any topic. She believes that challenges in access to information is a challenge to press freedom as well.

She also stated that not having safety assurance of journalists is a challenge to press freedom.

“If a journalist receives threats over something they write, how much safety assurance does this country and its organizations as whole gives is a question to debate. So, I believe that, press freedom can wholly be achieved after addressing these issues first.”

Journalism is often a thankless job. A healthy democratic system depends on journalists, not just to keep the public informed, but also whistleblow on corruption and prioritize the citizens’ interests.#actionagainstcorruption