As a freelance journalist based in south-east Asia, it's been a busy time for Simon Roughneen. Each email from Journalism.co.uk in interviewing him has caught him in a different place.

When he first got in touch it was while covering the Pakistan floods and this is not his first time reporting from a disaster zone, having covered the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake. Having reported from more than 30 countries for titles including the Washington Times, World Politics Review and the Irrawaddy, he's the kind of freelancer and foreign correspondent that media commentators tell us are a dying breed.

So how did he get started as a journalist and what advice would he give others reporting from disasters? We spoke to Roughneen to find out more:

How did you get into journalism and secure your first assignments abroad?
After finishing a MA in International Relations, I went to west Africa as an intern and penned a couple of feature type pieces from there in my spare time. I had previously interned with openDemocracy, a web-based culture and politics magazine in London, after which the next step for me was to do some work overseas.

I had not decided on journalism at that stage - I was interested in learning more about far-flung places, enjoyed reading on international affairs and foreign policy, but was not sure if I wanted to focus on writing about these matters. One thing led to another really, it was partly down to "being there" in the first place - to paraphrase Woody Allen, 90 per cent of success is just showing up! I was eager to write about what was going on in Sierra Leone and managed to get a couple of pieces published. That was my start, and things kicked off from there, really as prospective employers saw that writing was all I was good for. And even that might be debatable to anyone who checks out my site or reads my articles!

What kind of stories appeal to you as a journalist?
I am curious about the world and its vastness and variety, and I am even more intrigued by people and their humour, passions, interests - and their quirks, foibles, flaws. Was it the impact of Cold War rivalries that left the Congo in such a mess; or was it more to do with, say, Mobuto's wife commandeering the international airport so she could fly off to Paris or Brussels to buy fur coats? Did Thailand's former PM go to Burma to meet the junta on official business; or because he wanted to have his fortune told by a blind astrologer in Rangoon?
 
Those are tragi-comic examples, but journalism is primarily about holding power to account and telling or uncovering the truth or as close as we can get to it - about whatever the subject matter is. It might now appear as a cliche to some, but functioning as "the fourth estate", as Edmund Burke put it, is journalism's priority. Trying to find out and convey this is what it is all about, and that's what appeals to me.
 
I read and write about politics, religion, business, money, human rights, war, famine, pestilence, guns, drugs, gangsters, thieves. I'd like to cover more areas, and at the same time I'd like to focus more in-depth on what I have been covering already. There aren't enough hours in the day however. A senior editor based in Hong Kong told me the other day that I am perhaps "spreading myself too thin". I felt like a jar of marmalade.

What are the main challenges of working as a freelancer in south-east Asia?
I think the main professional challenge is that this region does not rank highly in the western media's news agenda. Unless it is a 'major event' such as the 2004 tsunami or the violence in Bangkok in April/May this year or thousands of monks protesting in Burma, it is difficult to secure a place in the pecking order above Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, China or Lindsay Lohan.
 
What was it like reporting from Pakistan after the floods and after the earthquake in Haiti?
Working in disaster or post-disaster regions, you have to be prepared to rough it, and you have to think hard about some basics that ordinarily do not pose a challenge in regular working environments, and be able to manage the stresses that these can induce. Electricity can be limited or absent, internet can be down, or slow, travel can be impeded by insecurity - to cite but a few examples that can hinder the journalist from getting the story finished and filed .

In Haiti I slept in a small tent, pitching down beside a mix of other journalists and aid workers. In Sindh in southern Pakistan, there was and still is the danger of water-borne disease, so care was needed in managing basic hygiene, and with food and water. In both cases however I felt a sense of duty that does not necessarily go with all reporting. People displaced, homeless, destruction and death on a massive scale and vast suffering. The world needed to know and to be mobilised to assist, and the media can have a huge impact in getting the story out.

What are you working on now and do you have any particular career or story goals that you want to achieve?
Right this minute I am taking a break between writing a couple of stories I am researching while here in Hong Kong. I would like to stay freelance as it gives me a lot of freedom to move, to travel, and to cover interesting, often compelling issues. At this stage I contribute regularly enough to a variety of publications, so am busy with that.

However, given what seems to be the shrinking appetite in newspapers for foreign news and the declining revenue base, there is less space for freelancers to get their stories out and less money there to pay for good foreign-focused journalism, which, like anything else, costs money. On the other hand, while the web has opened up new spaces and technologies that should breathe new life into all forms of journalism, it seems that news organisations and their senior management have not been able to figure out the business model for this.