Thrust into protest spotlight, reporter ‘Artie’ has song in his heart

With his unorthodox reporting style and light-hearted take on dramatic events, Patpon “Artie” Sabpaitoon has quickly become an adored English-language journalist, particularly with the younger crowd, for his live-streaming coverage of recent protests. His running commentary on events was punctuated with unconventional occasional flashes of humor.

On Oct. 15, a day before police marched on peaceful protesters to blast them with water cannons, his brief interview with a profanity-hurling protester became an instant meme.

Furious potheads, salty aunties and other wacky weekend protest moments

Now that he’s leaving Bangkok Post to chase his real dream, Artie opened up with us about his journey from self-described “lost” international relations student to professional journalist, and how life is now that his name is on everybody’s lips.

How did it all begin…