By Charles S. Rice

“Don’t embrace obstacles,” became the mantra for ICFJ’s first class of in-depth investigative reporting in Baku. Ayten Farhadova says those three words, mouthed by one of her trainers, have made a difference in the way she approaches her stories now. “I used to start my story planning with “this will be impossible, this interview will be a problem, but now, I always interrupt myself and say why should it be a problem. And I always find a way to do it,” she said.