Warangkana
Chomchuen

Warangkana “Waan” Chomchuen is a multimedia journalist, editor and documentary filmmaker. 

 

Waan has worked at news organizations, including the Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Voice of America, and NHK. She covered Thailand's political turmoil, Japan's Fukushima nuclear accident, the Rohingya refugee crisis, the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, and North Korea’s use of mobile technology to surveil its citizens. 

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Waan began her career as a Bangkok-based news assistant at NHK Japan’s Broadcasting Corporation. Her first major assignment, three months into the job, was to cover the aftermath of the 2014 Indian Ocean tsunami in Thailand. In 2007, she joined NBC News as the sole producer for a nimble three-person Bangkok bureau team. In addition to field producing the coverage of breaking news and feature stories across Asia for NBC, Waan developed the skills to operate as a one-person multimedia journalist. She reported, wrote, shot and edited text and video packages for MSNBC.com. 

 

Waan spent six years at The Wall Street Journal as a staff reporter and then Southeast Asia video journalist, focusing on breaking news, analysis, and explainers, including the rise of Kim Jong Un, an interactive multimedia project leading to Myanmar’s historic 2015 election, a Virtual Reality or 360º video project looking at two sides of the Philippines’ economy, and the epic rescue of the "Wild Boar" youth soccer team from a flooded cave in northern Thailand. In 2019, she joined Voice of America in Washington, D.C., covering major stories in the U.S. Waan directed and collaborated on producing three documentary films that have been screened at film festivals across North America. Her documentary, Fulfilling Buddha’s Vision: In Ordination Buddhist Nuns Seek Equality, was named finalists at AIB International Media Excellence Awards, Clarion Awards, and New York Festivals TV and Film Awards in 2022. Who’s My Dad? won bronze award at New York Festivals TV and Film Awards. Love in Transition won Jury Prize for Short/Mid-Length Documentary from Queer North Film Festival 2024 and was a finalist in Documentary at the 2025 Annual Shorty Awards.

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A native of Thailand, Waan earned her Master’s in Journalism from Columbia University as a Fulbright Scholar. She later received the Wall Street Journal Asia Fellowship to study Business and Economic Reporting at New York University. Waan is currently based in Washington, D.C.

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Waan can be reached at wchomchuen@gmail.com.