WEBVTT - Meet our new host!

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<v Speaker 1>Hello, if Daniel James, here was some very exciting news.

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<v Speaker 1>Last week. We let you know that my co host

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<v Speaker 1>Ruby Jones is taking a break from seven AM while

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<v Speaker 1>she works on a story for Four Corners. While she's away,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going to be sharing hosting duties with a wonderful journalist,

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<v Speaker 1>Nicole Johnston.

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<v Speaker 2>On the edge of the city of chun Chun, a

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<v Speaker 2>towering monument to the China Dream and its demise. Is

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<v Speaker 2>the first time in the United States in the midterm

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<v Speaker 2>election that they're having to recount three statewide races, and

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<v Speaker 2>these are big races all.

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<v Speaker 3>Night throughout the Gaza Strip.

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<v Speaker 2>The latest information that we have is in the last

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<v Speaker 2>few minutes we have heard about an air strikeing probably

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<v Speaker 2>just heard one of those air strikes that I meet.

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<v Speaker 1>There aren't many corners of the Earth, many front lines.

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<v Speaker 1>Nicky hasn't reported from from the Middle East to Africa, Europe,

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<v Speaker 1>the US and Asia. For two decades, Nicole has covered

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<v Speaker 1>the events that have shaped the world.

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<v Speaker 2>People from Mosul's Old city have been broken, bodies, ravaged

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<v Speaker 2>by hunger, beaten down by months of war. And this

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<v Speaker 2>is how it ends. Men stripped to their underwear to

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<v Speaker 2>show Iraqi forces they're not wearing a suicide vest.

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<v Speaker 1>And now she's back in Australia unpacking the biggest news

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<v Speaker 1>stories for us. Nikki, thanks for joining us.

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<v Speaker 3>Great to be here.

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<v Speaker 1>Now, you say you left to go traveling for a

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<v Speaker 1>year and it teened into seventeen years. How did that

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<v Speaker 1>get out of hand?

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<v Speaker 2>It really got out of hand, didn't it. It started

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<v Speaker 2>with a year of backpacking. But then once I got

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<v Speaker 2>to London, I'd always had this big dream of being

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<v Speaker 2>a foreign correspondent. I didn't know how to go about it,

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<v Speaker 2>and I thought the best way was to try and

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<v Speaker 2>specialize in a region and learn it and then take

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<v Speaker 2>all of that back to Australia. But I got distracted.

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<v Speaker 2>I ended up focusing on the Middle East. I did

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<v Speaker 2>a master's in Middle East studies at the University of London,

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<v Speaker 2>even though I'd never been to the region, knew nothing

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<v Speaker 2>about about it, but I was fascinated very quickly, and luckily,

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<v Speaker 2>not long after that, Al Jazeera decided to launch an

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<v Speaker 2>English language channel based out of Doha.

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<v Speaker 3>I signed up.

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<v Speaker 2>I thought, this hopefully will be my ticket into the

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<v Speaker 2>Middle East.

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<v Speaker 1>And so, what are some of the stories that have

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<v Speaker 1>stayed with you during your time with Al Jazeera and

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<v Speaker 1>in the Middle East.

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<v Speaker 2>I think I would start off by saying that my

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<v Speaker 2>first big break or deployment with Al Jazeera was in Gaza,

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<v Speaker 2>and I first went there for three months and that

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<v Speaker 2>was when the maybe Mamara attack happened.

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<v Speaker 1>A deadly battle has taken place off the coast of Gaza,

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<v Speaker 1>as Israeli forces stormed at.

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<v Speaker 2>Least one ship attempting to break the blockhead of Gaza

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<v Speaker 2>commanders lower them so a Turkish flotilla was attacked by

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<v Speaker 2>Israeli forces. A number of people were killed. It was

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<v Speaker 2>a huge incident, a huge international story.

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<v Speaker 3>Two people have been confirmed killed.

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<v Speaker 1>Five year Israeli army have now asked all the passengers

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<v Speaker 1>to go in.

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<v Speaker 2>Suddenly Gaza was on air every single day. I then

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<v Speaker 2>returned to Gaza the following year and I spent twelve

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<v Speaker 2>months living there. Last few minutes, let's get the letters

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<v Speaker 2>now from Nicole Johnson who is in Gaza for.

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<v Speaker 3>US and Nikki. What's going on? Is that another Israeli

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<v Speaker 3>air strike.

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<v Speaker 2>It certainly seems that the border area around Gaza is

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<v Speaker 2>really being targeted at the moment. And we did all

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<v Speaker 2>sorts of stories. Obviously there were air strikes and conflicts.

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<v Speaker 2>But the big one for me then came at the

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<v Speaker 2>end of the year, and that was the Gillard Shale

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<v Speaker 2>prisoner swap story, when one Israeli soldier was swapped for

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<v Speaker 2>one thousand Palestinian prisoners. Waya Collab was twenty three years

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<v Speaker 2>old when he became a prisoner in Israel. He was

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<v Speaker 2>jailed in nineteen eighty eight for killing two Israeli soldiers

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<v Speaker 2>in Gaza City. Now he's free under the prisoner swap deal,

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<v Speaker 2>but he's suffering from Parkinson's disas and his son says

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<v Speaker 2>his problems are also psychological. To be there during that

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<v Speaker 2>was incredible because on both sides it was one of

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<v Speaker 2>those rare occasions when there was an agreement, it worked,

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<v Speaker 2>and it was actually a very positive story in the end.

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<v Speaker 1>Why don't we talking here in terms of your coverage

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<v Speaker 1>of the Middle East and with Al Jazeera?

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<v Speaker 3>Oh, oh gosh, it's hard to remember.

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<v Speaker 2>I think I went to the region almost eighteen years

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<v Speaker 2>ago when I was there for a decade. In that time,

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<v Speaker 2>I had the year permanently based in Gaza. I spent

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<v Speaker 2>about a year in Jerusalem, and then I went to

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<v Speaker 2>Egypt and I was based in Cairo, and it was

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<v Speaker 2>after the Arab Spring, immediately after it, so it could

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<v Speaker 2>have been a pretty quiet, sleepy time in Egypt because

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<v Speaker 2>the big revolution had happened. But I arrived and a

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<v Speaker 2>few months after that there was the military.

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<v Speaker 3>Coup, the removal of Egypt's first democratically elected president and

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<v Speaker 3>has opened one of the bloodiest chapters in the country's

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<v Speaker 3>modern history.

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<v Speaker 2>And when I saw the military helicopters flying in above

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<v Speaker 2>Tuckery's Square with thousands and thousands of people underneath, you

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<v Speaker 2>pause and go, oh, I don't know how this girl

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<v Speaker 2>from Country Regional Australia ended up here in Cairo in

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<v Speaker 2>the middle of this big story. And I mean I

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<v Speaker 2>was always very grateful and just so excited to be

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<v Speaker 2>in the middle of.

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<v Speaker 1>It all, coming up Nikki on reporting from China and

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<v Speaker 1>what she gets up to when she's not on the road.

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<v Speaker 1>What kept you on the road for all those years

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<v Speaker 1>was that first to be in the thick of it?

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<v Speaker 2>I think, so, I love the job, and it's not

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<v Speaker 2>easy to get these jobs. So when you finally do

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<v Speaker 2>get the job, it is a hard thing to give away.

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<v Speaker 2>And I don't think I ever really would want to

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<v Speaker 2>entirely give it away. I would go back overseas at

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<v Speaker 2>the drop of a hat tomorrow because it's so fascinating,

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<v Speaker 2>it's so interesting. I love the people that you meet,

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<v Speaker 2>the range of stories that you can do working with

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<v Speaker 2>a team, and most of all, my most recent deployment

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<v Speaker 2>was one year in China, and I thought of it

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<v Speaker 2>like this. Obviously, China is not my background or my

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<v Speaker 2>academic area. But to be paid to go to China,

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<v Speaker 2>it's like spending a year doing a master's in China

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<v Speaker 2>studies and your employer is footing the bill, and they're

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<v Speaker 2>flying you all around, and you get to meet Chinese

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<v Speaker 2>people and make Chinese friends, and explore every type of

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<v Speaker 2>story from economic to rare earth minerals to the military

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<v Speaker 2>to great geopolitics with Putin in town, and every day

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<v Speaker 2>was like a new chapter of a book.

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<v Speaker 1>You mentioned you from country New South Wales. Whereabout some

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<v Speaker 1>country New South Wales.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm from a little place called Bimbi. Actually it's about

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<v Speaker 2>thirty forty kilometers outside of a small town called Grenfelle,

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<v Speaker 2>population maybe fifteen hundred people. But if you're in Sydney

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<v Speaker 2>and you drive five hours southwest, you'll reach it. And

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<v Speaker 2>Grenfell just to say was the birthplace of Henry Lawson.

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<v Speaker 2>So I went to the Henry Lawson High School.

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<v Speaker 1>There.

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<v Speaker 3>I had wonderful teachers at school.

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<v Speaker 2>I had decided at a really pretty young age, I

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<v Speaker 2>guess maybe ten, that I wanted to be a journalist.

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<v Speaker 2>A teacher had suggested it to me in primary school

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<v Speaker 2>and the idea just stuck, and my parents would often

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<v Speaker 2>joke later that at one stage I said, if I

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<v Speaker 2>end up at the ABC in Woggle Wogger, I will

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<v Speaker 2>be really.

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<v Speaker 3>Pleased with myself. So it's funny anyway.

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<v Speaker 2>The worldview got bigger after traveling abroad, and I have

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<v Speaker 2>just tried to push it and keep the show on

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<v Speaker 2>the road and take as many interesting opportunities and meet

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<v Speaker 2>as many great people as I could.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, you've landed with us here at seven AM, and

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<v Speaker 1>we're very very very happy about that and very very

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<v Speaker 1>grateful to have someone of your caliber with us. What

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<v Speaker 1>type of stories are you hoping to cover for seven Am?

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<v Speaker 3>Oh, that's a good question.

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<v Speaker 2>I think the kind of stories that I want to do,

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<v Speaker 2>aside from the wonderful Australian stories, are international stories. That's

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<v Speaker 2>really my bag. I've spent so long overseas and it's

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<v Speaker 2>reached that point where it all sort of starts to

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<v Speaker 2>come together. So to be back in Australia and able

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<v Speaker 2>to ring old journalists and buddies in different countries and

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<v Speaker 2>bring them back to people in Australia, to hear their

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<v Speaker 2>stories about what it's like to live there, to put

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<v Speaker 2>up with the governments that they have, and what they

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<v Speaker 2>think is changing in the world is really exciting. I

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<v Speaker 2>think the other thing is the fallout from this Trump presidency.

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<v Speaker 2>Every day is something new, it's whiplash. I'm really excited

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<v Speaker 2>to be able to cover those kinds of stories and

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<v Speaker 2>interview people all over the world about it.

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<v Speaker 1>So what do you do when you're outside the news bubble?

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<v Speaker 1>What do you like to do when you're not involved

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<v Speaker 1>in your calling.

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<v Speaker 2>I think I'm a bit of a tragic and I

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<v Speaker 2>must admit that you'll often find me on the beach

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<v Speaker 2>at Bondi reading the news or at Kuljie. I love

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<v Speaker 2>the ocean, swimming, just being on the beach. What could

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<v Speaker 2>be better than that? I think the other great thing

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<v Speaker 2>to do in Sydney is to go down to the

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<v Speaker 2>Sydney Opera House, especially during the winter, listen to the

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<v Speaker 2>wonderful Sydney Symphony Orchestra or Australian Chamber Orchestra and just

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<v Speaker 2>get some music. I think it's a great way to

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<v Speaker 2>relax and try and chill out from all of this hard.

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<v Speaker 3>News that we're often doing.

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<v Speaker 2>And then I also love to just get in the car,

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<v Speaker 2>drive out to the countryside five hours west and and

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<v Speaker 2>see the family, see my little nieces riding their horses,

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<v Speaker 2>and just enjoy this great Australian lifestyle that we have.

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<v Speaker 1>We are incredibly lucky to be in this country and

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<v Speaker 1>we're incredibly lucky to have you with us on seven am, Nicole,

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<v Speaker 1>so thanks for joining us and good luck with it all.

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<v Speaker 3>Thank you, thank you for having me.

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<v Speaker 1>That was Nicole Johnston. She will be with us until

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<v Speaker 1>the end of March when Ruby Jones will be back

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<v Speaker 1>from Hursted at four quints