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4.2 : Is a desk-based approach to global journalism possible?

Media outlets must cover landmark events and issues. But at the same time they have the opportunity to do something more, to offer the audience a deeper and more diverse picture of the reality around us, even without being on the ground. And journalists, by following this approach, can enrich their portfolios with unique and groundbreaking stories.


Many journalists know the everyday struggle to find compelling new stories – and to do so quickly enough to survive the pace of the newsroom. Furthermore, the content also has to be relevant for the audience: why cover this and not that?

Journalists, of course, cover international landmark events and issues: Brexit, the US elections, some UN conferences, maybe some of the larger protests in ‘important’ countries – to put it simply, major news from parts of the world regarded as ‘prominent’ on the global stage. 

But this picture is just one part of a far wider canvas. Journalists have the opportunity to add something more, to offer the audience a more diverse and complex vision of the reality around us.

In the following sections, we offer a few tips and suggestions on how to capture stories across the world more accurately and with a wider range of perspectives, while at the same time compensating for the absence of on the ground reporting. This will help you include fresh and unique content in your everyday news coverage – and even, in some cases, make your work easier too.

Other ways to improve reporting on culturally and/or geographically distant contexts can be found in the section on Global outlook.

But at first, before you begin reading the tips and suggestions, you should think about the two decisions you ought to face. First of all, you should decide whether or not you are actually willing to feature more international news with a global outlook in your foreign news section. 

If you do, there is another decision to take. You can either:

  1. Invest some time into preparing a more detailed output, based on first-hand data and findings, making calls and contacts around the world, or:
  2. Due to time pressure or other constraints, create material from foreign media coverage, available studies, reports, expert opinions and perhaps testimonies from politicians, if relevant.

Both options are legitimate – they both involve collecting, processing and disseminating the information in the public interest. The second option, despite the fact it is often rightly condemned (if it is more ‘churnalism’ than journalism, the line between them is thin), is actually very common: to do this the right way, make you draw on reliable sources and credit them accordingly.  

In both cases, there is the opportunity to ensure your work is different to ‘business as usual’ coverage – more accurate, better balanced, fresh and three-dimensional. Find more in the next post.

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4.1 : As opportunities to travel shrink, opportunities to communicate across the world have improved rapidly.

While the opportunities for media houses to send journalists abroad have been shrinking, the ability of journalists to cover issues taking place on the other side of the world have been greatly increased thanks to recent advances in communication technologies. In fact, most coverage on global issues is now done from behind a desk. Fortunately, it is possible to produce high quality coverage on global issues, including migration, from this setting. All it requires is a fresh approach and a shift in perspective.

4.3 : Changing your approach to desk-based research.

There are a few preliminary steps you can take to begin with if you would like to enrich your desk-based coverage: starting with some broad research to give you an overview, compiling further resources to follow up, changing your routine a little and considering the criteria you want to select news coverage from agencies and other sources.

4.4 : Collecting findings from behind a table: tips and suggestions.

In the old days, reporters had to rely on expensive and unreliable communication services to develop their stories. Nowadays, journalists have a universe of new technologies to communicate across the world – reliably, instantly and for free (or almost). This is the ‘new normal’ for news coverage and journalists have to adapt to make the most of these new opportunities.

4.5 : Balance and analysis.

Covering culturally and geographically distant contexts brings a variety of challenges. How do you achieve the right balance? How can you feed it into the bigger picture? How do you avoid the dangers of depoliticization and other common pitfalls of Western coverage of the global south? How can you analyse a subject you are not yourself an expert in? And can you make these unfamiliar contexts relevant and accessible for your audience? Fortunately, there are tools which can help.

4.6 : Before you start.

Planning is the essence of good coverage. Before you go anywhere or start your work, define precisely what you are interested in. Then do the research – find out what is already known about the topic. Do not forget additional, contextual information while doing so. Write down from where and from whom you could get information, and how could you use it. And finally, categorize your sources – from those simple to obtain to others more difficult to reach – and begin with the latter.

4.7 : Giving your story a hook.

A hook is a technique to make your story engaging, going beyond the ‘five Ws’ of journalism: who, what, when, where and why. Put simply, it answers the question ‘So what?’. Another perspective relates to narrative technique to open your story to hook attention in order to keep reading/watching/listening. Here we deal with the former one. These can be, for example, various events or reports.

4.8 : Making entry into a community.

It is important to get voices of people whom the issue you cover somehow relates to. Therefore, it is important to enter the community itself when covering migration and/or development issues. Find tips and suggestions how to do that.

4.9 : Pitching stories to editors.

When you are attempting to challenge the dominant discourse, persuading media outlets to commission your stories can be more difficult. A good pitch could help. Journalists use pitches to persuade editors that their suggested topics are worth covering.

4.10 : Live reporting.

Being in the field is a unique opportunity to bring something special – such as live reporting. Find inspiration about what you can do and how to do it.

4.11 : On the ground.

You are in the field – with all the challenges that brings. How can you proceed to find valuable content? Leave enough time to be able to distance yourself and gain perspective. Do not overestimate your memory and don’t forget about accompanying visual materials. And be flexible!

4.12 : Stories through the concept of nonuniform modernization(s).

As journalists, you will often encounter stories taking place in unknown environments, in culturally unfamiliar or geographically distant contexts. In these cases, it is often useful to use an analytical tool to grasp the topic in a structured way. One useful approach is the concept of nonuniform modernization.

4.13 : Dilemmas in the field.

Fieldwork brings a variety of challenges and even dilemmas for journalists. Some common examples of these are covered here. They include cooperation with NGOs, international organizations, local representatives, community members themselves and fixers.

4.14 : Working with your fixer.

One of the ways to overcome the challenges journalists face in unknown contexts is to cooperate with a fixer who will be able to fill you in on the background and help you access the stories you need. There are websites such as www.worldfixer.com or www.hostwriter.org where you can find more information. Another option is to engage with groups on social media and ask other journalists for advice.

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