Who are these people who get bombed while doing their work but keep going back?

And who are the people bringing us their stories?

Physicians working for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) have saved countless lives in troubled and war-torn regions over the years.

Dr. Navpreet Sahsi, an emergency room physician from Toronto, on his daily rounds in an MSF camp in South Sudan. Dr. Nav, as he is known, features prominently in the podcast discussed below. Photo courtesy: NPR/David Gilkey

But what does it take to volunteer for a mission with one of the world's leading humanitarian organisations?

And how will we, siting in the comfort of our homes, know what it means to be an MSF doctor if we didn't have journalists who risk their lives too by travelling to these dangerous areas to report on the work being done there by these amazing, brave, big-hearted men and women?

If you want to know more, and I'm sure you do, click on this link: Embedded for Five Days and Five Nights with Doctors Without Borders.

When you get to the page, click on the "play" icon to listen to the podcast.

When listening to the podcast, pay attention to the journalistic values — how similar is this podcast to a news feature in a newspaper?

Also pay attention to the following:

1. Pronunciation

2. Voice modulation

3. Use of music

4. Use of silences

This is a great example of "radio journalism".

Also, it's a great example of a human interest story.

Who else but journalists can bring us such stories?

• NPR is a wonderful source of some gripping podcasts, as is Longform. Here are some of my favourites:

The mother of all podcasts: Serial

Do you have dark thoughts?

You can learn so much from listening to these fascinating podcasts

Why you should listen to this spellbinding podcast interview with the mother of one of the Columbine shooters

Listen in as Rukmini Callimachi, the remarkable journalist who is tracking ISIS, talks about possibly the most difficult of media assignments

ALSO:

The best Indian podcasts

Do you have dark thoughts?

Such as "I am no good." Or "No one likes me." Or worse.

Even if you don't, here's an NPR podcast that delves into the secret history of thoughts while giving us two real stories that begin in pretty dark fashion. Both, however (especially the second one), end on such a joyous note you will get a kick out of listening to them.

Of course, ultimately, this is a great piece of (audio) journalism.

To listen to "The Secret History of Thoughts" on the "Invisibilia" podcast, click here and scroll down to the episode. If you want to download it, click on the "ellipsis button" and choose "Download". You can also subscribe to "Invisibilia" on the Podcast Addict app, which is my favourite app for listening to podcasts while I'm driving to and from work.

ADDITIONAL READING (AND LISTENING)

• You can learn so much from listening to these fascinating podcasts

• Why you should listen to this spellbinding podcast interview with the mother of one of the Columbine shooters

• Listen in as Rukmini Callimachi, the remarkable journalist who is tracking ISIS, talks about possibly the most difficult of media assignments

• The best Indian podcasts

Why you should listen to this spellbinding podcast interview with the mother of one of the Columbine shooters

On April 20, 1999, when Sue Klebold heard about a shooting incident at Columbine High School, her thoughts immediately turned to her 17-year-old son, Dylan, who was a senior there.

"In the very beginning, I didn't know what to think," Sue tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross [in this podcast interview]. "I was aware that there was a shooting incident occurring at the school. I didn't know if Dylan was in danger, if someone was trying to shoot him, if he was doing something."

Gradually the truth emerged: Dylan and his friend, 18-year-old Eric Harris, had gone on a shooting rampage at the school, murdering 13 people and injuring 24 others before killing themselves.

If you're a media student and if you aspire to become a journalist, here are six reasons why you should listen to this interview:

1. To understand how to ask questions
2. To understand how to listen to the responses and ask follow-up questions
3. To understand — in this case — what questions to ask a woman whose son and a friend shot dead 12 students and a teacher and then killed themselves
4. To understand the importance of diction and intonation
5. To understand what it means to be a popular radio host
6. To understand what works on radio — if you're a media student it is quite likely that the production of a radio feature is part of your course curriculum (as it is at Commits)

So go on over to the NPR website and pay careful attention to how Fresh Air's Terry Gross conducts this interview (recorded earlier this month to coincide with the launch of a book written by Sue Klebold): "Columbine Shooter's Mother: I Carry Him 'Everywhere I Go, Always'".

TERRY GROSS

You can also read a transcript of the interview here. If you have learnt how to "write to pictures" (TV news scripting), reading this transcript will give you a good insight into how "radio copy" works.

Speaking of radio copy, you should also read the transcript of a wonderfully descriptive podcast review on Fresh Air of singer-songwriter Sia's latest studio album, "This Is Acting", by rock critic Ken Tucker. Study the structure: Intro by host David Bianculli... SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNSTOPPABLE"... Beginning of review by Tucker... SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BIRD SET FREE"... Tucker again... and so on till the end.

You can read the transcript as well as listen to the review here: "Sia Reclaims Songs She Wrote For Others On 'This Is Acting'"

• ALSO READ: You can learn so much from listening to these fascinating podcasts

How do you like the idea of a short story that can be read in three minutes or less?

I discovered NPR's "Three-Minute Fiction" contest by chance some four years ago. And shortly afterwards, on October 29, 2009, I sent out an e-mail recommending it to Commitscions.

I also mentioned in that e-mail that "Postmortem", one of the contenders for the top prize, had been submitted by well-known Indian author Amitava Kumar. (Each story had to be an original work of fiction and begin with this sentence: "The nurse left work at five o'clock.")

I received feedback almost instantly:

• From Padmini Mazumder (Class of 2011)

I absolutely love short stories. I think it takes a lot of imagination and quick thinking to write one AND it takes me only a few minutes to read one. :)

Sir, I hope you read "The Last Leaf". Please do. O'Henry rules the short story scene!

• From Ranjini N. (Class of 2010)

I think "Postmortem" is simply awesome. There is a beauty in telling the story in a few words and then subtlety in leaving a lot to the imagination of the reader by not saying it all. Amazing!

You can read "Postmortem" here. Incidentally, Amitava Kumar has just published his latest book, non-fiction this time, titled A Matter of Rats: A Short Biography of Patna. You can read up details on Amitava Kumar's blog.

NPR's "Three-Minute Fiction" contest, meanwhile, continues to be as popular as ever. For the most recent round of the competition, guest judge Karen Russell asked participants to submit original short fiction in which a character finds something he or she has no intention of returning. The winning story this round was "Reborn" by Ben Jahn (pictured below).

You can read "Reborn" here.

And check out more of the goodies NPR, formerly National Public Radio, has to offer: books, movies, games and humour, music, and, of course, news.

ALSO READ:

• An innovative and revolutionary short story series in "Mint Lounge"

• The short story that "did more in nine pages than most novels do in nine chapters"

• Rajesh Parameswaran: An exciting new practitioner of the short story form

• Difficult Pleasures: Anjum Hasan's short-fiction collection