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Keeping Reporting At The Center of the Newshour

90.5 WESA
James Coomarasamy sits in 90.5 WESA's studio with Essential Pittsburgh host, Paul Guggenheimer.

Veteran reporter JamesCoomarasamyhas been a BBC correspondent in Moscow, Warsaw, Paris and Washington. Some of the stories he has covered are President Obama’s 2008 election, Russian opposition to Putin and much more.

In Pittsburgh, for the Public Radio Program Directors Conference, James Coomarasamy, joined us in studio on the same day as news broke of Russian air strikes over Syria. When asked if this is an action that could bring President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin together Coomarasamy responds, “Whether it’s something that brings America or the west more broadly back together with Russia remains to be seen.”

While he’s been a host of the BBC Newshour for the past five years,   Coomarasamy, feels it’s important to report from the field, “All of the hosts that you hear have been correspondents and continue to go out to keep the reporting at the center of it.”

When asked how this has changed him as a journalist Coomarasamy says, “The stories you’re reporting on are only helped by going out there and drawing upon your experience.”

More Essential Pittsburgh segments can be heard here.

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