Tommy Walker is a British international journalist reporting overseas, mostly in Asia. He has covered politics, political unrest, elections, military coups, and war. His work has been recognised and has contributed to award-winning press freedom coverage while reporting in Asia.
In 2019 and 2020, Tommy covered the Hong Kong anti-government protests and news on the national security law. As well as reporting from the frontline of dozens of street demonstrations, Tommy has interviewed now-jailed media mogul Jimmy Lai and high profile activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, Tony Chung and Lee Cheuk Yan. In addition, Tommy’s photography work of protests and political figures in Hong Kong has been published by leading media outlets worldwide.
In 2021, Tommy partly relocated to Taipei, Taiwan, a city that has a rapidly growing status as a media hotspot in Asia. He has covered the cross-Strait tensions between Taipei and Beijing.
But amid Myanmar’s military coup Tommy relocated to Thailand to cover the subsequent civil war. He has interviewed key politicians, activists, journalists and soldiers of Myanmar’s rebel armies, basing in Bangkok, and the Thai/Myanmar border Mae Sot to cover the events.
While in Bangkok, Tommy has reported on Thailand’s anti-government youth movement that began in 2020. He has attended several heated clashes between demonstrators and police in the city’s Din Daeng suburb in 2021. Tommy also provided main coverage for Thailand’s general elections in 2023 for VOA News.
Tommy has increased his reporting portfolio to Southeast Asia, including Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Philippines in 2023, including working for Deutsche Welle.
Press freedom has been a key focus of Tommy’s reportage. For The Telegraph, he interviewed Indonesian journalist Veby Mega Indah – blinded by a rubber bullet in 2019 – during Hong Kong’s anti-government protests. Tommy has also worked with Voice of America, reporting about press freedom in Asia, while he has interviewed 2021’s Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maria Ressa from the Philippines. In November 2021, Tommy was a part of the VOA Press Freedom team that won the inaugural Media Freedom Award at the Association for International Broadcaster (AIB) awards.
Russia’s war in Ukraine saw Tommy report on the ground, filing both text and images with newspapers, broadcasters and media agencies. Tommy worked at the Poland border before reporting in Ukraine, covering the war throughout the country including from the frontlines in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv. Tommy has worked in Ukraine several times, mainly for British newspaper The Daily Express, both in 2022 and 2023.
Before transitioning into journalism, Tommy was a travel writer. His travels are wide and many, having visited six continents, including several years within the Asia region and 15 months in Latin America.
Tommy has embarked on several sponsored trips to destinations including North Korea, Borneo Malaysia, Singapore, Morocco, and New Zealand. His travel excursions often find Tommy exploring “off the beaten track” destinations, which have included Venezuela, Guyana, and Colombia’s “Lost City”, amongst others.
Thus far, Tommy has based and lived in Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico.
Reporting:
Published | Worked For | Appeared On
Voice of America (VOA), Deutsche Welle (DW), The Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, Byline Times, Daily Mirror, Daily Express, BBC (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Tees), The Northern Echo, Al Jazeera, South China Morning Post, Rappler, Nikkei Asia, Coconuts Hong Kong, NewsCorp Australia, Asia Media Centre NZ, SWI (SwissInfo), Salzburger Nachrichten, EBS Korea, Hit FM (QLD).
Republished | Cited In
Independent.ie, The Guardian, New Zealand Herald, Global Asia, Asia Times, News Lens International, South Asian Monitor, WorldAkkam, India Express.
Photography / Video:
Published | Worked For | Via Agency
BBC News, Voice of America, CNN, Al Jazeera, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Bloomberg, CNBC, ABC News, TIME, The Atlantic, Forbes, Business Insider, Huffington Post, WIRED, Daily Wire, Axios, The Conversation, Amnesty, Financial Times, The Telegraph, Daily Mail UK, Daily Express UK, Liverpool Echo, Byline Times, The Independent, The Tablet, Yahoo!, Deutsche Welle (DW), Rappler, Nikkei Asia, Asia Times, Le Point FR, TRT World, Malta Times, National Herald India, The Straits Times, 7News Australia.
Travel Articles & Reports
Published | Photography | Featured | Appeared On | Cited
BBC World Service, BBC Tees, South China Morning Post, The Bangkok Post, Rappler, Manila Times, NewsCorp Australia, HIT Radio, Stuff NZ, New Zealand Herald, Business Insider, INC. Magazine, Forbes, Buzzfeed, Matador Network, Travel & Leisure, Conde Naste Traveler, The Travel Magazine, View Magazine, Smile Magazine (Cebu Pacific Air), AWOL (Junkee), Travel Pocket Guide, Guyana Chronicle, Samui Times, The Northern Echo, Daily Express UK, Teesside Gazette.
