Quratul-Ain Bandial

Quratul-Ain Bandial, also known as Ain Bandial, is a journalist and media entrepreneur in Brunei who co-founded and became the editor of The Scoop in 2017. Ain has written about many different topics in her career, including human rights, the environment, and security as well as diplomacy. Her work has been published in Reuters, AFP, and The New York Times, among various international newspapers, to which she contributes.

Education Ain graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science (BSS) in history from Curtin University in 2008. joined the International Visitor Leadership Program's (IVLP) Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists 2012 and Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Women's Leadership Academy in 2017. She is also a fellow of the Earth Journalism Network.

Ain has written about free speech for the Brunei Times. She believes that censorship in Brunei is not a result of the law but of self-censorship by the country's journalists.

Brunei has a very high proportion of its population using social media. It was reported that Brunei was the highest in Southeast Asia with nearly 70% of citizens using social media. During the COVID-19 pandemic, The Scoop faced challenges as they played a crucial role in keeping the public informed and combating misinformation. The rask was not helped as they discovered new restrictions and a sharp decline in advertising revenue. They lost 90% of their advertising over a span of five months. with staff working tirelessly for over 100 consecutive days without a break or holiday.

According to Ain, more people than Brunei's population reads The Scoop, with most readers being between the ages of 18 and 34. By 2019, The Scoop has its own YouTube channel, internet radio, and print version offered as a colour magazine. Advertising and sponsored content was paying for six staff. By 2020, The Scoop had 80,000 monthly readers and 70,000 social media followers.