Why subscribe?
Every Sunday at 7 pm ET, I share a list of annotated media observations focusing on disinformation, data, and democracy. I strive to present diverse perspectives beyond the Anglosphere and show the global effects of Anglo-Western technology and media. Sometimes, I go The Extra Mile and publish stand-alone pieces.
Who is Tina Carmillia?
I have more than a decade of experience in journalism across print, broadcast, and digital media. I started writing for English daily newspapers in Malaysia, then a magazine. Next, I transitioned to producing radio shows and podcasts (and events) for a talk radio station. I also did some reporting and translation for local and regional digital publications in Southeast Asia and Europe. I am currently a TV producer, working on documentaries and specials for a multilingual broadcaster in Canada.
Between all that, I was a Wolfson Press Fellow at the University of Cambridge studying misinformation in science news. Then, I expanded my research as a fellow under De La Salle University’s Democracy Discourse Series.
My main journalistic and academic approach is analysing or contextualising the news (and the media) with research and ideas from diverse, under-represented voices. I cover a wide range of topics, specifically science and technology, but also indigenous issues, health, environment, education, and sports, through a non-Western lens.
What is in the name?
In 2017, I read an article about starting blocks—the device used in sprints and other foot races. I like works like this; it shows that with a good eye for a story, you can zoom in on a small element of something much bigger and expand it into a piece that stands on its own legs.
Sprinting is one of the most exhilarating sports in terms of its build-up, but it ends in literally seconds. As writers, we would ponder about how much more we can write about an event that is so straightforward, so quick, and so well-known. Many before us have taken every possible angle: the history of sprinting, the physics and techniques, the sprinters’ physiology, the greatest sprinters of all time (and why), the limit to human speed, the engineering of the shoes or the tracks, the comparison of speed between species, and so on. So, what else is there to talk about it?
The starting block. That’s what. So, when I see a topic that has been covered too many times and struggle with finding that fresh angle with solid legs, I think about the starting block. That’s where I find my footing. While the goals of this newsletter may continue to evolve, I started it to overcome my writer’s block, to find my starting block, and to take my stories to the finish line.
Ready, get set, go!
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