Can we talk about the financial risk freelancers take before a story is ever commissioned?

Donate to our crowdfunding campaign: https://gofund.me/6943849f2 

Before an editor ever sees a finished pitch, a freelancer has already spent hours - if not months - researching, finding sources, making calls, travelling, building access and figuring out whether there is even a story worth pursuing.

That means spending money too: transport. Accommodation. Translators. Facilitators. Photography equipment. Obtaining documents. TIME. 

And NONE of it comes with a guarantee that the story will sell.

That doesn’t mean publications aren’t paying journalists. The vast majority do, and many editors are fighting incredibly hard for the budgets they have.

The problem is what happens before the commission.

Freelancers are increasingly expected to arrive with an idea that is already well developed, well sourced, timely, distinctive and feasible. Often, that means absorbing the early cost of reporting themselves.

Then they pitch.

Sometimes it lands. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes there is (heart-breakingly) no reply at all.

And when that cycle repeats often enough, the consequences are bigger than one unpaid day or one rejected story. It changes who can afford to stay in journalism.

If developing strong pitches consistently requires unpaid time, financial flexibility and the ability to absorb reporting costs with no guarantee of return, then the industry starts filtering people out long before talent has anything to do with it.

That is one of the problems @UNTOLD News Network wants to tackle.

We want to reduce some of that risk by putting funding behind independent journalists earlier, supporting promising reporting and creating more space for stories that deserve development rather than expecting freelancers to carry the entire burden themselves.

Because the question shouldn't be: “Can this journalist afford to take the risk?”

It should be: “Is this a story worth reporting?”

And if the answer is yes, we should be finding better ways to help make that reporting possible.

That's what we're trying to build with UNTOLD News Network. But to take the financial risk off freelancers, we need people willing to share some of it with us.

If you believe great stories shouldn't depend on whether the journalist can afford to pursue them, help us fund the alternative.

Donate to our crowdfunding campaign: https://gofund.me/6943849f2

Or share it with someone who cares about independent journalism. Or tag an organisation, editor, funder or journalist who should know what we're building.

Every contribution gets us closer to commissioning our first stories and putting the money where it belongs: behind the reporting.