In this episode, we had the pleasure of talking with Maddy Savage, a Stockholm-based reporter, broadcaster, and audio producer originally from the UK. She has been storytelling for the BBC for two decades, both as a staff journalist and as a freelance foreign correspondent. If her name sounds familiar, you have probably seen or heard her not only on the BBC but in many other places like NPR, Times Radio, The Telegraph, Monocle, Lonely Planet, HuffPost, and ABC Australia.
As a freelance journalist, Maddy shared the pros and cons of basically working as an entrepreneur with lots of different publisher clients while still pursuing her own topical passions through documentaries and other forms of media. It is a real balancing act that requires the freedom to be creative and follow the stories you believe are important while at the same time keeping the practical needs and desires of the publisher in sight.
Maddy really helped us understand the interworkings of the complicated production of news. There is lots of teamwork but also competition within each publisher for stories and budget. We also talked about the advantages and challenges of the life of a foreign correspondent.
Below are a few links to some of the latest work from Maddy:
Latest documentary: Sweden's Green Power Struggle
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct4lyv
Tackling loneliness with coliving
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p083bzb2
How Swedes opened up about periods https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct2zjj
Why Finland is building with wood
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct316s
