The hard part is that these days freelancers work for shockingly lower rates. "My income halved when I moved abroad," NVJ quoted one correspondent as saying, "so we keep the cost low to make a living." NVJ didn't provide figures, but in China the going rate for English-language journalists is 15 cents/word (U.S.) -- and that actually looks nice because the U.S. dollar currently is so low. I have met (and, I must admit, hired) journalists for less. Chinese journalists would refuse to work for those rates; American journalists need a few years of experience before they accept them; and Europeans are the cheapest in the market. How to survive? I decided to quit the foreign correspondent business and have started a speakers' bureau. In financial terms, that's a bit of a different league. Today, many foreign correspondents survive because their partner has a decent job. I'm not sure that is a sustainable strategy for quality foreign coverage. link
« back to From the Frontline home
Want to be a foreign correspondent? Get a partner with a good job
According to Poynter blogger Fons Tuinstra the only reason many foreign correspondents survive is because their partner has a decent job. Fons talks about the state of Dutch foreign correspondents in the light of a recent report in De Journalist (in Dutch) - a magazine for the NVJ union for journalists - or translated into English here. It's not a pretty pictures says Fons,
2 Comments
Not just plastics, water was another I used to get hassled about a lot when I was based in Asia... I agree that it's not all gloom and doom, quite the opposite in many ways. This post
http://www.fromthefrontline.co.uk/blogs/index.php?blog=5&title=the_demise_and_rise_of_the_foreign_corre&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
and this follow up magazine article, A new kind of foreign news coverage, are (IMHO) a good summary of where things are and are likely to go in the near future re: foreign correspondents,
http://www.frontlineclub.com/club_articles.php?id=340
Would love to know your thoughts...
From the Frontline:
Stories and analysis from journalists around the world and insight into the world of foreign correspondents, war reporters, life on...
Thanks for the link, but there are still some decent jobs, as I try to explain in my entry. There is a small section of top-end publications (NYT. FT, DJ, WSJ, WP) and there are the verticals. When you really want to focus on plastics, you can make a decent living. Having a well-earning partner is always a plus.