Rob Cameron

BBC's CAMERON: SUCCESS IN JOURNALISM REQUIRES DIVERSIFICATION OF MEDIUMS

By Jessica Corry

The cobblestone streets were paved in gold.
So thought Rob Cameron in 1993, as he landed in post-Soviet Prague for the first time in his young life. Originally from the UK, he came to escape the dissolution and depression that he now recalls defined his previous life in London.
In the chaos of his new city’s daily life, he found a new purpose. While he had been rejected from a journalism school in his home country, the move east ultimately allowed him to daily transcribe the stories and lives of millions of people and multiple countries.
Today a correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation, Cameron covers politics and culture for the network’s radio, TV, and online segments. He’s also writing a book, chronicling his three-week journey across the Czech Republic by slow train.
According to Cameron, his 17-year rise to journalism’s highest echelon have taken a similar meandering path—one about which he has no regrets. “If you want to be a journalist, stick with that dream,” he told a gathering of young journalists at a downtown Prague restaurant Wednesday. “It will happen.”
Together with Katerina Zachovalova and Jeremy Druker, other Prague-based reporters, Cameron’s address came to the Fund For American Studies’ European Journalism Institute. The trio told their personal stories, also agreeing on a common theme: a journalism career in 2010 means setting aside ego, and possessing a tireless commitment to wearing many hats.
To get there, Cameron first needed to learn the language. He studied Czech for several years, while also teaching English to pay his rent. By 1999, he caught a break when he joined Radio Prague, where he remains a regular contributor. In 2001, he had joined the BBC, and by 2004, he was working as a correspondent for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.