FIRST WITH THE FACTS

BBC journalist Yalda Hakim tells Siobhan Duck why Australia still has a “special place in my heart”

YALDA Hakim is accustomed to breaking news. But last year, the celebrated BBC World News journalist found herself making global headlines when she took a phone call, live on air, from a Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan as the capital city of Kabul was falling. Experienced at staying calm under pressure, Hakim kept the man on the line for 32 minutes, unwavering in asking varied but insistent, important questions.

Reflecting on the moment now, Hakim says her competitive spirit kept her focused.

“The beauty of live and continuous [coverage], which the BBC really does well, is [that] the machinery kicks in,” she says from her studio in London, “which means you’ve got dozens and dozens of outlets all working to cover a story. And you really feel it when something big happens. Then when you’re in the centre of that, the pressure of that is felt because, you know, millions of people are going to be watching you across the globe.”

Adding to the intensity of that day was Hakim’s deeply personal connection to the story.

Born in Afghanistan, Hakim, now 39, was just a baby when her family fled the country during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, ultimately settling in Sydney.

From the age of seven, her passion for storytelling was sparked when she saw investigative journalist Mark Davis on the SBS program Dateline and knew that she wanted to do what he was doing.

“It was quite a journey, then, to become one of the hosts of Dateline alongside Mark Davis, some 20 years later, when I first got that role,” she says, fondly.

“I was a young kid in Sydney, growing up and consuming a lot of current affairs.”

Hakim’s skills on camera eventually attracted the attention of the BBC and in 2012 she was lured to join their UK team. Even so, she says her proud parents still hold out hope she will eventually return to Sydney.

On a visit home in December when Covid travel restrictions were lifted, “I was sitting in my parent’s backyard, and they’ve got these beautiful big gum trees and a pool and life just felt picture perfect,” she recalls.

“My son was running around the backyard barefoot, chasing the dog and grabbing the hose. He was having a quintessentially Australian moment in childhood,” she adds, “and it took me back. The smell of a perfectly mowed lawn took me back to my childhood. I had a lot of nostalgic moments. There is so much

I miss about Australia and it will always have an incredibly special place in my heart.”