Viren Vaghela joined Asia Risk in January 2011 as a senior reporter covering financial regulation, risk management, and derivatives. Viren speaks with Ryan Financial about how reporters use LinkedIn groups, on PR's role in jounrliasm, and the musts for a journalist.

Overview of role: Senior writer covering financial regulation, risk management and derivatives. 

Length at outlet: More than a year. I began working for Asia Risk in London for three months in January 2011 before transferring to Hong Kong.

On story themes: Interesting themes I’m following include  OTC clearing, liquidity in AP region, development of sovereign funds in China, how Indonesia is now an investment grade, market-specific themes (e.g. my recent story on Mongolia’s developing financial markets), and the euro crisis.

On story angles: I like exploring in-depth stories and digging deeper to understand why a particular regulation hasn’t worked, for example, or to understand hidden risks in a particular market or product that is not so obvious at first glance.

On what is rewarding in my job: Covering stories that have genuine new angles, not yet written by anyone before and meeting a variety of interesting people all over Asia.

On what is the challenging part of writing for Asia Risk:  As we focus on in-depth, analytical stories, I sometimes face a steep learning curve to get to the heart of a story. It is also sometimes hard to know when to stop writing!

On social media: LinkedIn is helpful for its groups (e.g. OTC Clearing Group). As journalists, this gives us ideas and insight into what people are concerned about on a particular topic.

The “musts” for a journalist: Voice recorder, pen, and pad

On PR’s role: PR is useful for introducing journalists to new sources and story ideas. Good PR strategists know what journalists cover and seek to offer targeted information.

When I’m off the clock: Hiking Dragon’s Back at Shau Kei Wan.