Each month, IJNet features an
international journalist who exemplifies the profession and has used the site
to further his or her career. If you would like to be featured, email a short
bio and a paragraph about how you have used IJNet here.
Rome-based freelance journalist
Beatrice Ngalula Kabutakapua is shattering stereotypes of African migrants by
showing how they live in 13 cities across the globe. She's co-producing the
self-funded documentary series (IN)VISIBLE CITIES, which
was presented at the International Journalism Festival
in Perugia, Italy this month.
“With a strong background in journalism
and communication, I use what I’ve learned…to approach and talk about
‘otherness’,” she writes on her blog.
She says IJNet has been essential to
her training as a freelance journalist, for which there is "no formal
education" available.
Her work has appeared on Radio France
Internationale, The Guardian, the UN Department of Information, UN Green Up
blog, L’Espresso, The South African and more. Kabutakapua is also a trainer in
media and integration in Italian for AMU and in editorial
writing in French for World Pulse.
How has IJNet helped you?
IJNet is invaluable for me to stay up
to date with the latest news. On IJNet, I go through the latest articles on
technology and how it can help journalists, especially freelance journalists. I
remember in particular reading about how to use Twitter for projects and
investigations, which is particularly useful for the current work I'm doing, in
which I have to use social media to contact people and to look for information.
Finally, I always check the latest fellowships and funding opportunities and
share them with African journalists I know, since information often does not
arrive to them.
You aim for "a media approach
closer to the people." Can you explain what this means to you, and to your
journalism?
A few weeks ago I was in Istanbul
interviewing and filming African migrants. I got in touch with the one African
community but they were really reluctant to be filmed. They told me once they
were interviewed by a journalist and never saw the results—not a video, a link
or an article. Hence, they grew suspicious of journalists. For me, this of
course means extra psychological work, because it's easier on an emotional
level to consider a person just a source of information and to collect that and
leave. In my case, I approach people as I would approach an acquaintance. The
result is that in the documentary series I'm working on, people talk to me as
if they were with friends, and they are genuine.
What has been your best story or work
so far?
Years ago I worked on an article for
The Guardian about the Beatles’ last concert performed in Cardiff [in the UK],
where I used to live. I loved working on that because there were so many layers
of stories: I talked to a man in his seventies who was there that day;
researched the urban history of the theater, which is now a shopping mall;
talked to people about their memorabilia, etc. That was when I started to focus
more on the many layers of reality. It's helping me now to produce stories I love
to work on, such the story of refugees arriving to the U.S., or African
migrants residing in Istanbul and being asked whether the color of their skin
can be washed away.
What advice would you give aspiring
journalists?
From my experience I can say that a
journalist should be fearless and ready to challenge himself or herself in any
situation. But that doesn't mean a person should be reckless; everything should
be well-researched and thought out. Also, seek the advice of people who have
more experience than you but don’t assume they will have all the answers—they
can only guide you. Most importantly, keep your feet in the real world, and
with people: talk to them, be one of them, and listen, listen, listen.
Image courtesy of Kabutakapua, pictured
at left.
Source: IJNET.org
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