So, you want to be a foreign correspondent. Fat chance. With publishers, editors and the big broadcasters refocusing on domestic news, the opportunities for getting a job as a real, trench-coated overseas reporter are limited. "
All right, I will be a freelance. I will find a spot that the big boys and girls are ignoring and I will sell enough print and air pieces to pay for rent and food and I will show them what they are missing."
Those who have been there and have done that sigh over the novice’s naiveté. No, freelancing is a synonym for starving, especially in foreign climes.
Still, there are bold men and women who take their life savings and invest in their own chances of making it overseas with no certain employment. Maybe they know the story of Art Buchwald, who just walked into The International Herald Tribune and offered to work without pay or, more recently, William Drozdiak, who went to Europe to play basketball and evolved into a first-class correspondent for The Washington Post.
Perhaps they have heard of reporters who got to Central America before editors discovered big, U.S.-related stories were gestating there. There have been other lucky freelancers who happened to be in place when Rwanda, Zaire and Bosnia became page one news.
Unfortunately, these stories are the rarities. More common are the tales of journalists who set out to launch overseas careers with little preparation but lots of optimism and hubris.' Brussels regularly attracts hopefuls as a likely place to scrape out a living: capital of Europe, home of the European Union, NATO and many American companies.
Still, many organizations avoid stationing people in Brussels because it is too close to Paris, Bonn and London; too expensive, and not productive enough of stories for American audiences to warrant a full-time staffer.
On any given day, newcomers walk into press bars in Brussels or Geneva, another popular target for freelancers, and meet reporters who have already staked out the territory. The newcomers get chilly welcomes, even after paying for drinks, for they are seen as rivals for the few paying opportunities that develop in those towns.
These pitfalls and the attractions of freelancing overseas are described in a handy little paperback, “The World on A String: How to Become a Freelance Foreign Correspondent” ($12.95), published by Henry Holt & Co. AI Goodman and John Pollack used their own experiences in Madrid and tales from many other freelancers to illustrate their story.
“Those journalists willing to head abroad on their own can and do find great opportunities,” the authors assert. “Steady work as a freelance foreign correspondent is challenging, rewarding and available right now. With a little imagination and careful planning, an escape from Plainville could be just around the corner.”
Pollack escaped from Plainville, Conn., to set up shop in Madrid, where Goodman was already working a handful of strings. They tell of others who followed their dreams overseas and managed to survive when they were in the right place when an important story developed.
The authors give good advice on the kind of equipment a modern reporter needs overseas and on the various details that must be taken care of such as bank accounts. But they dodge some of the issues that can change an optimistic, hopeful correspondent into an angry, frustrated, unemployed reporter.
They recommend that freelancers “be discreet” when asking about visas and work permits for foreign countries. Inquire by telephone, they say, and do not give your name. “This way, if you must apply for a tourist visa because that’s the only practical means of getting into the country, nobody’s the wiser about your intentions.”
But there are many countries (Singapore, Indonesia, Nigeria) that are very sticky about such rules and take it seriously when journalists — particularly freelancers — bend or break them. Many of us have done that just as some have purchased visas from corrupt clerks. But this is a dangerous game.
Pollack and Goodman exaggerate the rewards implicit in overseas reporting and minimize the risks. Too many Americans believe that the First Amendment will protect them any place in the world. They need to know there are many governments that do not want reporters wandering around their turf and that “freelance journalist” is often a disguise for a charlatan.
Sure, take your chances, but read further to better understand the risks you will face overseas. And hold on to your return air ticket.