Yaroslav Trofimov is a columnist and senior correspondent at The Wall Street Journal, where he writes the weekly Middle East Crossroads column. He joined the Journal in 1999 and has served as Rome and Middle East and Singapore-based Asia correspondent, as well as bureau chief in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Previously he worked at Bloomberg News. He is the author of two books, Faith at War and Siege of Mecca.
Hometown: Kiev, Ukraine (as in place of birth); London and New York (as in where most friends live).
Education: New York University (MA) Kiev Institute of Economics (BS).
Languages Spoken: Italian, Russian, French, Ukrainian, Spanish, Arabic.
First job in journalism: Writer for The European, a now defunct weekly based in London.
Countries reported from: Close to 100 – across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Year you first became an OPC member: 2003.
Major challenge as a journalist: Remain objective. We are all human and we all have feelings, sometimes very strong ones when we experience wars. Objective coverage doesn’t mean moral equivalence between the killer and the victim, obviously. It’s one thing to give both sides fair play when you cover an election in Germany, it’s another when you are being bombed by one of them in a civil war. Equally, it is hard – on a human level – to remain objective when you are on an “embed” with soldiers on whom you rely to protect your life, but whose potential misdeeds you would have to document.
Best journalism advice received: Make another phone call and see if someone else can confirm or explain.
Worst experience while on the job: Writing a story that then doesn’t run.
When traveling, you like to … Walk through the city, to feel its pulse on the street level, wherever possible. Have time to understand the culture and the way people think. Generally: to blend in.
Hardest story: Covering the deaths of people you know and love.
Journalism heroes: Anthony Shadid and Daniel Pearl. For depth of writing, caveats et al: Ryszard Kapuscinski.
Advice for journalists who want to work overseas: Learn languages and read lots of history books because in many places history, no matter how ancient, still isn’t in the past. When there, break out of the expatriate bubble. And don’t trust what diplomats and officials say: they often know far less than you.
Dream job: Current one.
Favorite quote: “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – Shakespeare.
Place you’re most eager to visit: Syria.
Most over-the-top assignment: Cage-diving with great white sharks in South Africa, for a story on how they increasingly get used to eating humans in that area. (The cage had much bigger openings than I imagined.)
Most common mistake you’ve seen:
Making assumptions based on insufficient reporting.
Country you most want to return to: Cambodia.
Twitter handle: @yarotrof