🗒️ Assignment Debrief: How I pitched, travelled and wrote a heartbreaking migrant story
🗒️ Assignment Debrief: How I pitched, travelled and wrote a heartbreaking migrant story
700 migrants headed for the U.S. are stranded on a beach in Colombia. Behind the story of how I found myself talking to homeless migrants...
Hey everyone, Sophie here. Instead of our weekly global news round-up, I’d like to take the opportunity to share something different. This past week I travelled to the Colombia-Panama border to document the story of how hundreds of migrants headed for the U.S. border are stranded on a beach. So think of today’s newsletter as a debrief for early-career freelancers around the world, planning or considering a similar trip.
From a 25-year-old very much early on in her career, I’m always looking for advice on ways to get ahead and make a name for myself, so I hope sharing my experience helps in some way.
Before we get into it, below is the final story in Vice for you to read before or after, as well as this week’s job board information… 🤙
Job Corner ✍️
We added 423 new jobs to the board over the weekend, meaning we finally broke the 1,500 barrier, and it won’t be long before we reach the big 2,000! We also have 106 deadlines in the next 10 days, and we’ve made it slightly easier to filter jobs by city and state/country.
Newsrooms include the Associated Press, Applied XL, Bell Media, BuzzFeed, ESPN, the Financial Times, Moneysupermarket, Newsweek, NPR, Politico, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, the Washington Post and Toronto Star.
Due to a limit on the number of people that can be added to a Google Spreadsheet, I’ve made two versions listing exactly the same jobs, so no need to have access to both. If you’re a paying member, you’ll have access to one of the two below links/buttons… 👇
Preview of the 423 new jobs added to the board this weekend 👇
How I Ended Up at the Colombia-Panama Border
Let me start by saying that I was born and raised in the UK, but have been based in Colombia since 2018, where pandemic rules don’t currently prevent domestic travel. To those of you in lockdown, I apologize in advance. It won’t be long before you can get back into the field!
Anyway, I’d like to tell you about how I ended up on a beach near the Colombia-Panama border, to tell the story of hundreds of migrants bound for the U.S. Along the way, they’ve found themselves stranded in the Colombian port town of Necoclí, about 40 miles from the border, which is currently closed due to the pandemic.
Around 700 migrants — mostly from Haiti, but also Cuba, and thousands of miles away in Yemen and several African countries — are currently camped out in closely-packed tents on the beach.
They cook on wood fires, wash and go to the bathroom in the sea, and have been asking for humanitarian aid for weeks, some for months. All they’ve received so far is food from a nearby Catholic Church. When I heard of their situation, I knew I had to go and find out more for myself.
Pitching the Story
The tip to what was happening came from a friend and colleague, Colombian photo journalist Jorge Calle, who I’ve worked with on assignments before, including documenting the dire Covid-19 situation for many of Colombia’s indigenous peoples. Given that it was breaking news, the first thing I did was search whether other international outlets had already covered the story, to gauge my chances of being able to sell the pitch. Besides Agence France-Presse, who had published a video, I couldn’t find any other English coverage. Because there are a sizeable number of freelance journalists in Colombia, I knew speed was crucial.
My prior experience of pitching breaking news was limited, so I was unsure where to start, especially given the urgency of the story. It was also Thursday evening, and I suspected most editors would be winding down for the day, so I knew I had to absolutely nail the pitch first time to get someone to bite.
I initially pitched the story, with photos from Jorge, to The New Humanitarian, based in Switzerland, to make the most of the time zone differences. I gave them exclusivity, which is my usual method for longer-term feature stories. If pitched to multiple editors at once, it can of course risk straining the freelancer-editor relationship, especially if more than one outlet does end up biting.
However, I hadn’t heard back from The New Humanitarian by the end of their Friday, and I was starting to get anxious that my time to sell the story was running out. At that point, I decided to seek the advice of our very own Daniel...
“News never stops” he wrote back on WhatsApp, suggesting I send a simple pitch outlining my intentions to cover the story, along with some background information, to multiple U.S.-based outlets — each one tailored slightly to suit the publication — where I still had half of the day left.
While not something I'd normally do, given the timeliness of the story, I was up front with the fact that I was pitching to several editors at once and that I’d go with the first outlet to say yes. In the end, I only emailed two outlets before VICE World News said yes within 15 minutes.
(Side note: Daniel learned this technique from his amazing former professor at the University of Missouri Katherine Reed, who recommended now-L.A. Times national correspondent Matt Pearce the same method as he raced down to Joplin, Missouri to cover the 2011 EF-5 tornado that destroyed the entire city while still a student. The LAT hired Matt full-time shortly after.)
Organizing the Trip
Although my gut instinct meant I probably would’ve made the trip regardless, the commission spurred me to book a flight for the following day to Apartadó airport, the closest to Necoclí, and quickly organized somewhere to stay through a contact. The hostel owner was well-connected and helped me get in touch with the secretary of the local mayor, Jorge Tobón, only to find out he was out of town on business and unable to talk.
Unlike Jorge (my awesome photographer colleague), I opted against a 12-hour overnight bus in hope of saving my energy for reporting, thankfully leaving me with only a two-hour bus ride to my final destination. Luckily, arriving at nighttime wasn’t too much of a problem, as I’d previously visited the same town on vacation, so I was relatively familiar with my surroundings.
Arriving at the Beach
My hopes of a good night’s sleep before a long stretch of reporting were dashed, as anxiety kept me tossing and turning all night. A few hours later, my sleep-deprived self along with Jorge — “fresh” off the 12-hour night bus — got to work in 30/86-degree heat. The first thing we did was scope out the beach, taking in the reality of the scene, and assessing how many migrants we thought were around us.
Despite having reported on similar stories of vulnerable populations in the past, this was my first time seeing the precarity of the migrants’ plight so up close. The sheer amount of tents packed into such a small space — especially during a global pandemic — really struck home how unsustainable and desperate the situation was.
Given that outsiders can sometimes generate hostility in large groups of people, we sought out the person “in charge” and introduced ourselves, outlining our intentions to give visibility to their situation and, ultimately, tell their story. It was important to spend 30-45 minutes chatting to build confidence and trust before our dictaphones and cameras came out.
Then, once we’d familiarized ourselves, we set about trying to speak to as many different nationalities and demographics as possible. I wanted to make sure we spoke to a good balance of both men and women, especially those pregnant or with young children, though the women were less willing to speak to journalists, and not as many of them were able to speak Spanish, Portuguese, or English.
Filtering Information and Forming the Story
Anticipating having almost three days to report, file, and edit the story would be fairly stressful, I pre-wrote a rough outline to shape my interview questions and have a structure in mind. I was of course prepared for this to change, but gaining any advantage, even if it’s 30 minutes, is essential because you really don’t know what’s waiting for you around the corner. I also spoke to sources before arriving, which helped me to identify themes, and was in contact with my editor Deborah Bonello at VICE, who helped me shape an angle.
(Side note: Deborah is always looking for new pitches and ideas, so if you have something, email her.)
To be honest, when it came to filtering the overwhelming amount of information I’d gathered, I found it incredibly difficult to leave certain things out, but that comes with the reality of writing an article and not a book (maybe one day).
With limited experience filing on such a tight deadline — let alone writing a story away from my usual setup — at times I felt completely inundated by the sheer amount of material I had and writer’s block inevitably set in. I’d get up and walk around to overcome this, take a shower, rant to Jorge or — if they were awake — WhatsApp my (incredibly tolerant) nearest and dearest for moral support.
By the end of our first day reporting, I had a good body of material, but not much stood out in terms of ledes and kickers. On the second day though, a snap protest took place, so I dropped everything and headed straight to it, and luckily it ended up shaping the story. Something I need to remind myself more of is to trust that no matter how unclear the final piece might seem, things will eventually slot into place.
Another piece of advice I want to share when working on a tight deadline, and one I’ll definitely learn from, is to fit as much research and reporting into the outline you already have. That way the amount of unused notes and transcribed conversations can be kept to a limit, freeing up more time on shaping the actual story. While it’s important to be flexible at first, set yourself a strict schedule to stick to your deadline approaches.
Practical Tips for First-Time Reporting Trips
Thanks for taking the time to make it all the way to the bottom and I sincerely hope you picked up something valuable. Here’s a summary of the most important things I learned from my first overnight field assignment:
Find out exactly where you’ll report from and find somewhere to stay as close to the action as possible. There won’t be time to waste walking or getting lost.
Try to find comfortable accommodation. I know that’s not always possible, but getting a good night’s sleep is key. It might cost more, but it’ll be worth it in the end.
Plan for there to be no wifi or internet, especially in remote places. So make sure you have enough phone battery and data to use a hotspot. No internet? No story.
Try to gather as many local contacts as possible. If you’re traveling to a region or country you don’t know, consider hiring a fixer. In Latin America at least, there’s almost always a friend of a friend who can help you.
Ask if your outlet pays travel expenses. Although VICE didn’t, some do. Don’t ask? Don’t get.
Adrenaline will get you through the day, and if you have to pull an all-nighter, so be it. You can sleep when you get home.
Finally, make sure you debrief thoroughly afterward. I don’t think I’ll ever stop being personally affected by the stories I see and hear, but at the same time, showing compassion doesn’t make a reporter any less professional. If a trip involves trauma, you’ll also assume some of it, so talk with friends or family, or better yet, find a newsletter that’ll let you write about it…
That’s all for today. See you folks on Monday for another giant update to the job board! 👋