Zara King: I share a house with Richard Chambers, we don't really switch off

— I don't mind saying it, I have found this year really lonely on a personal level. I think it's important to say it

Sat, 12 Dec, 2020 - 16:56

I have a big Cork connection. My Mum is from Cork and I was born there! Then, I went to college in Cork at Griffith College Cork.

I grew up riding horses and there were periods of time where I thought I might like to be a vet, but when I realised that you might have to put animals down, I knew it wasn't for me.

I always wanted to be a journalist. From a very young age I knew I wanted to be a storyteller — I would interview every person who came into the house. We had a video camera in the house and I would make my Dad be the camera man — all these terribly precocious things!

I share a house with Richard Chambers [television news reporter] and it is a bit weird that we are housemates and we do the same job. It does mean that we don’t really switch off — there are four of us who are journalists living in the one house and all we talk about is the news.

Lockdown pals. 🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏻‍♂️

@newschambers #Level3 #Dublin @VirginMediaNews pic.twitter.com/dpdOKUem1Q
— Zara King (@ZaraKing) September 18, 2020

I am actually spending Christmas in West Cork. My grandparents have a house in Courtmacsherry we used to spend all our summers there. Now, I spend every Christmas with my Grandad and so we are all going down to Courtmac and I can't wait — I haven't seen my family since September. I am living for the reunion.

My Mam is the person I turn to for every single thing. She is my best friend. She is an amazing woman and she has this mother's intuition about me. She knows me better than anyone and she knows what I'm feeling before I am even feeling it myself. She just knows things.

When everything was happening in the height of lockdown, she would know by watching the news what I was upset about. She'd be watching me reporting from the Department of Health on really high numbers and she'd ring me and she'd say 'oh the numbers were high today, I could see you were upset'.

Between my Mam and my Dad, they've really gotten me through the tough days since March.

The two of them would be there on loudspeaker and my Mam would be the one offering the best insight while my Dad would be more of the listening ear.

I am afraid of losing people close to me and I think it's a very normal fear. It's definitely more heightened for me in the face of Covid-19. I did feel really worried at the start of all this, when we were all being sent home to work from home and we didn't really know what was happening. I was really frightened and I think it was the first time in my life I felt real fear. I was scared of what was going to come next and if the people I love were just going to disappear. And that did happen, to 2000 families.

I am an only child and it has been so difficult being apart from my family. I don't mind saying it, I have found this year really lonely on a personal level. I think it's important to say it, and what's so interesting is that so many women — young women — have messaged me telling me that they feel the same way.

#Room631 is a podcast series containing the unheard tapes from the @VirginMediaNews Documentary Team. @ZaraKing hears the thoughts of the key decision makers who sat in Room 6.31 at the Department of Health. #Covid19Ireland

🎧Listen here: https://t.co/j9Ji3IJgmt pic.twitter.com/8VDRDHpl7z
— Virgin Media Television (@VirginMedia_TV) December 9, 2020

I feel like after this year I have a clear insight into what people who watch the news want to know about. I feel like the audience are kind of like my bosses. At the end of the day, they are the people who turn on the news or buy a newspaper — it's important to listen!

Even before the pandemic I was always into humanitarian stories. I love going out to people's houses and having the chats with them, it's my favourite thing to do.

In January, during the elections I worked on a series asking people what they wanted for the next government and I went into their houses and spoke to them about their hopes. At the time, I thought 'oh I'd love to be doing more stories like these'. Of course, I had no idea that a global pandemic was going to hit!

I am doing my dream job, and I don't think a lot of people get to say that. So, at 32, I know how lucky I am to be sitting here doing my dream job. And I'm really proud to be able to say that.