Being ten feet tall: thoughts on how to get started as a journalist in Africa

Glenna Gordon

January 17, 2009

I get a lot of email asking for advice about working as a journalist in Africa and how I got where I am right now. So I wrote up my thoughts in a document that’s posted here, to be taken with several large pinches of salt.

Big ol’ caveat:

This is how things worked for me, and will not be how things will work for everyone. I’m still trying to work things out and move forward from where I am to the next level, so this is a very small and limited perspective and should not be an exclusive resource to anyone seeking to do journalism in Africa. If you are, you should google, and google widely.

Read this document to find: first things first, interning at local papers, interning for news wires, freelancing, steady work, keeping going, random thoughts, and more.

First things first:

My first recommendation is to just get here. Get on the ground, and plan on staying, and eventually things will work. If you come for a month, they are unlikely to immediately fall into place unless you’re the recipient of an exception streak of luck. If you stay for several months, you’ll learn the ropes of reporting. Just as importantly, you’ll learn from other journalists how the media industry works.

Intern for a local paper:

I worked for the East African and the Daily Monitor. These internships are hard to arrange in advance, will provide little to no structure, and will ask for you to produce a different kind of content than you would try and sell to an international media market. But, you’ll work on a daily or weekly paper. You’ll report lots of stories. You’ll meet local journalists who will be your best resources (and friends) as you continue to work in a country.

If you know any local journalists in a country you’d like to work, get in touch, ask for their editor’s contact information and their assistance setting things up. You may or may not be able to arrange things via email, but if you show up and offer to work, this might be fruitful as well.

Also, ask just about anyone you know. Got a Zambian friend who works for an NGO in Malawi? Ask her if she knows any journalists in either country who she can put you in touch with, and follow up, politely and regularly. Send thank you emails.

Or, intern for a news wire:

I don’t know much about this since it isn’t the route that I took. But, I know that people hang around Reuters and AP bureaus, in Nairobi and elsewhere, and are eventually thrown an assignment or two, and if they do well, thrown more assignments. I don’t know how you start or how you go from intern to stringer, but I know it has been done.

Then, freelance:

One of the reason I liked working for Daily Monitor is that I ended up doing stories that were more quirky and unique than the day’s big story. For example, I was assigned a piece about a woman who was HIV positive and her pastor promised that if she donated her car to the church, she would be healed. It didn’t work out for her, a court case ensued, and I wrote “Does God Need Your Car?” it was published first in the Daily Monitor, and then in the Huffington Post.

Then, get steady work:

I started doing wire work by strategically being in the right place at the right time. My first assignment for AP was in October of 2007, when Congolese refugees flooded into Uganda (not to be confused with when Congolese refugees flooded Uganda in 2008). I knew the AP text stringer was going to cover the story, I knew the AP bureau was interested, I went ostensibly to cover it for the Daily Monitor, but it worked out that AP ran my photos on the wire. I continued to get work from AP for the rest of the time I was in Uganda. Though the work wasn’t consistent or enough to support myself, it was enough to build a platform to get other freelance work.

I started working for IRIN and PlusNews because I wrote a story for Reuters AlertNet about HIV positive prisoners and got a cold call offering me a string.

An important thing to know when you’re starting is who does and doesn’t take freelance work. Places like AlertNet (old format, they’ve changed, don’t know if this is true any longer), were great outlets for freelancers. Places like IRIN are not. They are staffed by stringers – people who are in the country for an extended period of time and can be counted on to produce content regularly. No matter how great your one story is, a place like IRIN is less interested in one piece than in steady content production from a reliable stringer. If you can offer them this, they might accept. They often have openings – check here – and PlusNews, which is more specialized, tends to also be short on content.

Nothing but freelancing

It can be done, but it’s hard. I know almost no one who manages to make a living by freelancing alone. There are several people I know who have received grants and fellowships that can support them financially while they freelance. A friend of mine received a generous grant from the Philips Foundation which he used to travel around Africa. He published a lot of great stories in the likes of Business Week, Slate, Mother Jones, etc, but if he had only had the income he made off of each of these stories, it would not have been enough to be solvent.

Try blogging:

I’ve gotten a bunch of random assignments from my blog also. For example, the journalist I worked with for this story for the Czech version of Marie Claire simply googled something like Uganda + photography and eventually found my blog and offered me the assignment.

Also, when editors are driving you crazy and you’re not creating the kind of content you dream of, your blog will always be yours and you will have final say on what goes and doesn’t. This is often more rewarding than a byline.

Keep going:

Like many fields, I truly believe journalism is a battle of attrition. I’ve been around for a few years, so I’ve got experience, and I’ve gotten better at what I do. I work hard and consistently. I work every day, regardless of whether or not I have an assignment. I read widely, google a lot, look at as many photos as my internet connection will allow, and think about my work and how to get better at it.

And finally:

Get in touch with people who are doing the kind of work you’d like to do. Pay attention to bylines, and google the name to read further and find contact information.

(I don’t mean me, I mean anyone doing the kind of work you find interesting or appealing. And I don’t mean just when you’re starting. I email random photographers and journalists who I’ve never met all the time. Sometimes they write back, and sometimes they don’t.)

Ask them smart questions that can’t be answered elsewhere.

Bad question: can you recommend an internship for me?

(Answer: No. Try google.)

Good question: I’m thinking of working at the Daily Monitor. Is there anyone you know there who might be a good resource for me to get in touch with?

(Answer: Yes! My friend Frank is the best!)

Bad question: can I get your AP editor’s contact information?

(Answer: No. There are a finite number of assignments and that’s my livelihood you’re asking me for.)

Good question: I saw the work you did for AP on Congolese refugees. I’d like to do further research on that topic. Can you send me the contact information for the public relations officer for UNHCR in Uganda or other useful point people?

(Answer: Yes. Followed by list of contacts.)

Bad question: What’s Uganda like?

(Answer: Uganda’s okay.)

Good question: Is it possible to get around northern Uganda using public transport?

(Answer: It’s possible, but difficult at times. If you’re patient, yes. Also hit up NGOs for rides if you can.)

Finally, follow up and say thank you. It’s polite and will make whomever you’re emailing more likely to reply in future situations.

Other random thoughts:

The person one step ahead of you on the ladder can give you more useful advice than the person five steps ahead of you.

Buy the best equipment you can afford. It does make a difference.

Filing on time is more important than spending extra time to make something perfect. It can never be perfect, but it can be on time.

Don’t just read stories or look at photos, find pieces about writing stories and about taking photos.

Have all of your equipment charged and packed and ready to go all the time. You never know what will come up.

Know what you can and can’t write about in a country, and know when to push the envelope and when to let it go for the greater good of other stories that you also care about.

A few resources:

Demotix

Journalists for Human Rights

Mediabistro

Lightstalkers

Written Road

10,000 Words

Too Much Chocolate

Foreign Correspondents Association of East Africa

Lydia Polgreen on Blogtalk Radio

(Notice there are no links here. Google, and you shall find. Get in the habit of googling everyone and everything and you’ll learn about things you didn’t think you even needed to know.)

Finally:

Jamie Rose, a great photographer, once did a portfolio review for me that was harsh but entirely necessary. I think she sensed that I felt a bit defeated about how much more I wanted to do than I have done.

Jamie asked me, as another photographer had once asked her, “How tall are you?”

I said, “About 5’4.”

“No,” she said. “You’re ten feet tall. No matter what, be fearless. Be ten feet tall.”

Good luck!!!!