What Local Journalists Can Learn From Foreign Correspondents

This award-winning journalist from India on what she learned from top foreign correspondents that landed her in TIME and The New York Times.

By Natasha Khullar Relph

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Here’s a funny thing that I noticed during my time in India: When journalists came to India from abroad to work as foreign correspondents, they had a far easier time making it as freelancers than local journalists born and brought up in the country.

Why is that?

It’s not racism and it’s certainly not that they were better—some of them hardly knew the country at all. But these expat journalists did certain things that made them more desirable to editors back home. They came with specific characteristics that endeared them to UK and US-based editors.

You may not inherently have these characteristics or these skills, but you can develop them. What are they?

Here’s what foreign correspondents do.

1. They understand their audience

Editors assume that the American or British foreign correspondent, no matter how green, understands their own country’s media. This assumption, for the most part, holds true.

If you’re interested in writing for the Western media, the first step is to start reading the Western media. What are the biases? The areas of interest? What stories about your country tend to feature most prominently? Once you understand what readers are expecting from their newspapers and magazines, you’re better able to offer it to editors.

2. They network

Foreign correspondents get invited to parties and dinners. They play tennis or join swimming clubs with other expat journalists and editors. Even though they don’t necessarily know a lot about the country they’re reporting from, they manage to bag assignments because they’re drinking buddies with the people that count. Early on in my career, a newbie American reporter stunned me with naive comments like, “Delhi’s unsafe for women at night?” Yet there she was, hanging out with my editors and getting assignments. I’d never even met them.

Here’s what you do: Add your editors on Facebook. Get to know some expat journalists and find out where they’re hanging out (online and offline). Start hanging out there. Join the Foreign Correspondents’ Club or other journalists’ association in your city. Lurk. Email. Connect with people. Ask them out for coffee. Be a resource. Help people who’re new to the country get acquainted with it. Be bold. Be friendly. The more you become a helpful part of the foreign correspondent community and a go-to resource, the easier it becomes for you to network with the right people. And that is how you get assignments. Offer to help out foreign correspondents working in your country—and use it as your opportunity to hoover up contacts and get introduced to others in the usually tight circle of expat journalists.

3. They aim high

Almost every expat journalist I knew back in India arrived with dreams of reporting for The New York Times or The Guardian or TIME. They never once asked how they could report for the local daily. They weren’t familiar with most of the websites for writers or freelancing advice that tells writers to start at the bottom. They weren’t playing by the rules. They didn’t spend all that money, time, and energy to arrive in a foreign country so that they could make $100 here and there. They wanted to write for The New York Times, damnit! So that’s who they pitched. Often, they succeeded.

Remember, there’s a certain kind of person who leaves everything behind to try their luck in a new country as a foreign correspondent. This person is a risk-taker. They usually have the desire to do good in the world, and to be taken seriously.

That is the kind of person who aims high.

Become the kind of person who aims high.

4. They learn how things work

Because expat journalists frequently hang out with the foreign correspondents of magazines and newspapers from their own countries, they’re often pitching the right people. They learn easily how each individual publication works. For instance, while TIME magazine has foreign bureaus, travel pieces in India were almost always assigned from Hong Kong. The New York Times would assign India-based stories from India, but all their stories for the Homes or Travel sections were always in the hands of editors in New York. For bigger publications with various sections, you’re going to have to build the relationship with each section editor anew. You need to know that. Networking helps you know that quickly.

5. They’re not afraid to ask for contacts

During my time reporting in India, I had dozens of American and British journalists email me to say they were arriving in Delhi and would love to get together, buy me coffee, and ask me a few questions. Rarely did I get the same email from Indian writers.

Foreign correspondents often begin setting up stories, contacts and networks before they even arrive in a country. They do this knowing no one. More often than not, they don’t speak the local language and will never learn it. Most foreign correspondents don’t see obstacles in their way; they see hurdles to be jumped.

Try thinking like a newbie to the city. Who would you ask for help and advice? What could they possibly offer you and what can you offer up in return? Set up the meeting. Be a go-getter.

Writers and journalists who network with others, especially in person, find their horizons broadening exponentially.

6. They’re not worried about the money

I’m going to be a bit controversial, but hear me out and then make a decision based on your own personal circumstances and goals.

When the New York Times offers a newbie expat journalist $250, they take it. Now, you’ve probably been writing for years and don’t want to accept that rate. But—and this is a big one—having a New York Times byline is better than not having a New York Times byline. You don’t have to become a daily contributor, but one clip of that sort of prestige can help your career immensely. Just by being able to say that I’ve written for the New York Times, I get more traction and respect from editors. They don’t push me around because I’m a New York Times and TIME writer, even if my last clip with either was several years ago.

I have, in fact, made more money from being able to say that I’ve written for The New York Times than I ever did actually writing for the New York Times.

Most American and British foreign correspondents I met knew the value of certain clips and so they’d write for free if they had to in order to get them. While they were making far less money than someone who didn’t take those assignments, they grew a lot faster and would frequently be making twice as much money as a result of those clips as they moved forward in their careers.

7. They try different things

When someone moves to a new country, they’re already outside their comfort zone and so they’re more open to trying new things in their work as well.

They may try recording audio, making videos, or playing around with blogs. I’m not in this business so that I can chase someone around with a video camera, you might say. I love words. But once in a while, it’s good to try new things, see what else you might be able to learn, or partner with someone with additional skills to offer.

Mix it up a little. See, perhaps, if there are other skills that you can offer to your editors. Don’t be too rigid.

8. They take risks

Foreign correspondents will happily travel to the middle of nowhere and come back with a story. In fact, they love it. They’re looking for adventure. You’d have come back with a better story, I’m sure. But you didn’t travel up to the middle of nowhere because you’ve got a wife, two kids, and a mortgage. Fair enough.

I’m not saying you have to do this in order to succeed, but I am saying it’s why that twenty-something college kid is getting published in the magazine that pays $1 a word and you’re not.

If you can, find stories that aren’t readily available and that not everyone can report on. They don’t have to be in the middle of nowhere; they could certainly be in your own backyard. But you’re going to have to look and you’re going to have to find these stories because that’s what’s going to get you into those high-paying publications.

9. They retell stories

Yup, while you and I are going about finding unique stories that no one’s ever heard of, foreign correspondents work differently. They read The Washington Post and go ahead and sell that same story to Marie Claire. Or they’ve combed through The Times of India and sold an intriguing idea to The New York Times. Cheeky little buggers.

Do the same. Find stories that have appeared in local media that might still be interesting to publications with longer lead times.

10. They steal your clients

That American college student I mentioned earlier? I really didn’t like her. I took her out to lunch because she wanted an education in India, made the mistake of telling her about a few stories I was in the process of pitching, and she went ahead and sent them to the editors I was planning to pitch. (The whole drinking buddies thing, remember?)

Not cool. So well, obviously, you don’t want to do that. You’re trying to network here, make friends, and you know, not be an asshole.

But that doesn’t meant you can’t get market ideas from your friends and co-workers. Look at their bios and see who they’re writing for. Ask them nicely if they’d share contact information. Most people will without a second’s hesitation. Offer to connect them with your own editors in return.

Be a friend.

11. They don’t take themselves too seriously

It’s work, yes, but it’s also life. It has to be about more than just querying, getting assignments, and cashing that paycheck.

It has to be about having fun.

It has to be about learning new things, taking on new challenges, and meeting new people.

It has to be about making it count.

Make it count.

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