Journalism Idealists: Influences on Freelancers in the Foreign News-gathering Process

Economic strains and the emergence of new digital platforms have significantly changed the way foreign news is reported. In particular, freelancing has played a vital role in how legacy news outlets produce foreign news. This study used semi-structured interviews (N = 11) with freelance journalists working for Anglophone news media to examine freelancing in the context of foreign news reporting. The findings show that although many freelancers experience employment precarity and face financial hardships, they enjoy a high level of autonomy in terms of scheduling, networking, sourcing, and choosing which locations to cover. These journalists also embrace widely accepted journalistic norms, such as truthfulness, fairness, and journalistic distance, in their reporting. However, they also challenge some Westernized topics and framings, and because most perceive the foreign news coverage in traditional media as superficial, they fulfill their journalistic mission by pursuing human-interest stories and privileging local voices. In doing so, these freelancers represent foreign journalism idealists who strive to bring a human face to foreign news stories and enhance the depth of foreign news coverage.