Seattle-based Dutch journalist shares freelancing tips with News Lab

By SAMANTHA PAK
UW News Lab

Hélène Schilders—a Dutch correspondent based here in Seattle—recently visited the University of Washington News Laboratory to share her experiences as a foreign journalist living here.

Schilders noted that the world of journalism has been going through some major changes in the past few years. Though this may be the case, she said this is the first year in which she has felt personally affected.She recently received an email from the business editor of the Dutch newspaper she writes for, de Volkskrant. The editor said he no longer had money to pay her for freelancing. Schilders continues to write for other sections of the newspaper, as well as for Elsevier, the Dutch equivalent of Time magazine; however, now her editors pay for stories that require travel only when it is a very newsworthy story.

As a result, Schilders makes it a point to try to work on multiple stories on a single trip in order to economize. On a brighter note, editors are often very grateful when reporters try to save them money, she said. She once even received a raise for trying to do things as cheaply as possible.

Schilders stressed that a correspondent should always make sure that her publication is able to pay for a trip.

“Don’t pay your own travel expenses,” she said. This can add up and become very expensive. A newspaper or magazine has a budget for this—however small it may be.

Correspondence jobs such as Schilders’ have become scarcer and scarcer because publications no longer have the money to fund them. Because of this increasingly competitive market, Schilders gave the students tips on landing one.

First, she said, it is very important for correspondents to have a frame of reference. They should be aware of the local and national politics of their own environment first before diving into those of a foreign country; it is important to know the audience they are writing for. Schilders got a grasp of her surroundings when she worked for a newspaper city desk back in Holland. Here she was immersed in a world not just of the local gossip and politics, but also of the gossip and politics of her workplace.

She decided this was not the right fit for her and began writing freelance for a news magazine that she said was a cross between the American Newsweek and Rolling Stone.

After six years of covering a broad range of topics, Schilders decided she wanted to be based in Seattle. Currently she writes mainly for two Dutch publications: the earlier-mentioned de Volkskrant and Elsevier, the Dutch version of Time magazine. The Pacific Northwest may not be the location that immediately comes to mind to have a Dutch correspondent based, but Schilders said that because the Dutch do not know much about the American West, she is able to pitch whatever story ideas she wants. Her editors will just say yes or no. If they say yes, she goes out to do it, often with a deadline that can be a few weeks or up to a month long.

Because correspondents write about a foreign country, Schilders said it is important to localize the story they are writing and angle it toward readers back home. A recent example she gave was when British soccer celebrity David Beckham moved to California to play for Los Angeles. This story was already being told and so she tried to find a Dutch connection; she found it in the form of a Dutch coach who is prominent in the sport here in the States, as well as two Dutch players on American teams.

“[I always ask myself] what can I add to what people are already writing,” she said. Schilders said she always tries to be as exclusive as possible when it comes to the topics of her stories.

Overall, Schilders said that although working as a foreign correspondent can be very rewarding, it will not come easy. There were times when she became very lonely working with editors she never saw. She craved contact with colleagues, which she had taken for granted when working in a newsroom; a foreign correspondent needs to be very self-motivated, she said. To remedy this, she networked with local journalists, which she said was also very important when it came to writing stories as well because they were the ones who knew more about the local culture and political system than she did.

Being in a foreign country, writing about the local culture for an audience halfway around the world and often working on multiple stories simultaneously can become overwhelming very fast. How does Schilders do it?

“You have to be very, very organized,” she said.

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(SAMANTHA PAK is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.)