As the one-year anniversary nears of the horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Virginia Quarterly Review has serialized a 19,000-word essay about that terrible day.
That work of narrative nonfiction was written by freelance multimedia journalist Jason Motlagh, today’s guest on the Morning Media Menu. During the interview, he pondered the future of long-form international reporting during this print recession–delivering advice for surviving as a freelance writer in this recession.
Here’s an excerpt from the interview: “I would encourage young journalists to look for the offbeat destinations, but also look at the places that are saturated–where the coverage has not been as diversified as it could be. Look for the counter-intuitive stories. To set yourself up–it’s important that you develop a body of work on a given area or issue, I think specialization is important now. In this hyper-inundated media climate, it’s important to single yourself out. It can pay to really stick to a topic. if you have a vision, find people who are like-minded who will support it. Think of online media as an opportunity, and not a compromise.”