The Guardian

Reference from the Guardian's Health Correspondent


Girish Gupta did three weeks work experience at the Guardian in August 2009, including a
few days on the Society Health and Education pod, where I work as the Health Correspondent
of both the Guardian and the Observer. I found him impressive, and a very promising wouldbe
journalist, as did colleagues in other departments where Girish spent time, such as the
Foreign desk. He demonstrated real assuredness, attention to detail and knowledge of what
information was needed when pursuing telephone inquiries.


These qualities were obvious one day when I was asked to factcheck and assess an array of
negative claims made about the NHS by opponents of President Obama’s healthcare reform
plans in the United States — quite a complicated piece of work. I enlisted Girish’s help, and he
was excellent; I could not have written a properly-researched and detailed piece by 5pm that
day without his considerable input. The resulting piece, on which he was justifiably cobylined,
was much praised at Guardian morning conference. He also helped me research an
article about illicit tobacco, again displaying resourcefulness.


Girish is a real self-starter and has many qualities. He came back to the Guardian for a few
days at Christmas 2009 and again had several stories published on the website, which is
unusual for someone on work experience. He shows real promise. In my view Girish would
really benefit from formal journalism training and would repay the faith of anyone who gave
him that opportunity.