Denis Loctier, euronews producer:
“The most amazing part of working for a news channel is how unpredictable it can be.
“In April 2010, I was doing a story on Kazakhstan’s terrible nuclear legacy. I was interviewing UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon right at the heart of the former test site, where hundreds of atomic bombs went off during the Soviet era.
“And then, very unexpectedly, a violent uprising broke out in the neighboring republic of Kyrgyzstan, leaving hundreds of people dead and wounded – an event which threatened to destabilise the entire region.
“We knew we had to go there. Overnight, me and my cameraman Terry crossed the border to report from the Kyrgyz capital, where buildings were being looted and burnt, hospitals were full of gunshot victims, streets were patrolled by militiamen and the government was nowhere to be found.
“That was a very memorable mission for me, and what I remember most is the way locals helped us, drove us around, brought us food – people in that Central Asian country knew euronews very well, they watched us and trusted us to tell the world about this landmark event in their nation’s history.”
