By Alejandro Krakowszky
ABC foreign correspondent Barbara Miller is responsible for asking the big questions and covering the big stories. However, her journalistic career began in an unusual manner.
Her journey started back at the university of Glasgow in Scotland, while studying about people who had worked as informers for the State Security Service after the fall of Berlin for her PhD.
The research felt more like a journalistic endeavour, and so began her desire to pursue a career in the industry.
”I really liked the idea of getting into journalism,” said Miller “But I didn’t really know how.”
Soon after, she moved to Austria and kicked off her career with a job at an online start-up. Although having no experience, being able to speak fluent English and German as well as having a PhD were extremely helpful in landing her the job.
After spending some time at the online news agency, she was able to springboard into Austrian radio at a bilingual station.
The experience Miller gained while working in Austria lead her into a job at the BBC where she worked for international radio and started covering major stories early in the piece.
Miller has worked on the international news scene for 20 years now and said she feels very lucky and privileged to have been doing what she loves.
“I think being a foreign correspondent for me is like the dream, it doesn’t really get any better than this,” said Miller.
She is now working as the Washington DC correspondent for the ABC and was previously the European correspondent from 2013 to 2016.
Over the course of her career, she has covered a range of different stories and has embraced the challenge of covering all sorts of topics.
“You have to learn a lot about certain subjects and that can influence how confident you’re feeling,” said Miller
“While I was working in the UK, I covered the cricket. It was like starting from the beginning, but by the end I was understanding it a lot more and felt confident going to the press conferences.”
With certain stories having had a great effect on her, Miller shared some of her favourites.
“The story that impacted me the most was the migrant crisis in 2015/16. I find it incredible to see people with their backpack making their way into different countries around Europe. It really impacted me to witness that.
“I also loved when I went to Ukraine for a few weeks, it was a really powerful experience. The locals were very stoic, you know I would love to go back and experience more of that country and see how people are going.”
There is a lot to think about when working in the media industry, so Miller ensures that she is always adding something to the story.
“You do always have to think, although you are the relayer of facts you need to give context, show emotion, add something. There is something that you are giving the viewers.
“What am I bringing here? Energy, context, analysis.”
Featured image: Barbara Miller reports from the White House. Photo: Supplied
