After one semester at AUP in the MA in International Affairs, Alara Koknar has accepted a full-time internship at France 24 as Assistant to the Editor-in-chief of the English and French channels. The opportunity arose thanks to recruiters who came to AUP seeking talented, bilingual students. As a Turkish-American who attended French international schools and obtained a French undergraduate degree in economics and philosophy from the Sorbonne, she has always been aware of the need for rigorous journalism. “I witnessed censorship in Turkey,” she explains, “and believe it is so vital to counter media sensationalism and the loss of journalistic integrity.”

Alara is using her time at AUP and France 24 to gain the experience she will need later as a field reporter, which is her ultimate goal. “I want to be a correspondent in the field, probably in Turkey, and its neighboring countries –  Iraq, Syria, the Balkans, the Caucuses,” she explains, and says she hopes to contribute to reducing the effects of propaganda and sensationalized news on these populations. Alara explains that given her background, she has "always had a spark in her" and has always wanted to inform the world when injustices were taking place because people have always been trying to prevent journalists from doing so.

Koknar credits Professor Philip Golub’s course, Philosophical Foundations of International Relations, and the module Navigating Disinformation in the Digital Era taught by Nina Lamparski,   a professional at the Agence France Presse, as sparking her passion for and decision to enter the field of investigative journalism. “That module was wonderful,” she says. “It taught me great skills, got me into fact-checking and investigative journalism and made me realize that’s the branch of journalism I want to go into.”

At France 24, Alara says she is learning everything about how television journalism works, by serving as the link between writing, editing and production. As a general assistant for both the English and the French channels, she coordinates and communicates bilingually between correspondents across the world and the French headquarters. “I’m basically doing the work of two people, navigating between the channels and environments.”

As she reports the facts, making sure they are facts, Alara continues to hone her curiosity and interest in global affairs. “I’ve learned in the past three months doing the internship that if I want to get somewhere as a journalist, I have to stick my nose where it’s not supposed to be,” she says.