Poverty tourism
Posted: November 19, 2012 Contents: Chapter 3 | Tags: ethics, journalist ethics, moni basu, poverty travel, travel ethics, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 3 explains a dilemma travel journalists face when exploring stories about poverty. Can the journalists contribute to the impoverished or are they gazing at subjects as in a zoo? CNN.com writer Moni Basu explains a recent trip to India and her thoughts on poverty travel.
Others in the group also tell me that this is an India they might not have otherwise seen. And maybe they were wiser for it, sensitized to problems that can be unimaginable back home.
How can that be bad? There’s no better way to learn about a place, after all, than to experience it.
Still, as the foreigners turn in their donations for Salaam Baalak Trust, I can’t help but think about the day for what it was: a tour of poverty. And hasty, I think. In all of less than two hours, our look at others’ lives is over. The only people I have spoken to are connected to Salaam Baalak Trust…
Expatriates going home
Posted: November 19, 2012 Contents: Chapter 2 | Tags: expatriates, julia preston, new york times, new york times travel, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel writer Leave a comment »Chapter 2 discusses the expatriate as a fast-growing nontraditional audience for travel journalism. That may be changing. Countries are calling their expatriates back home. Julia Preston of the New York Times explains in an article,
Returning scholars and business people are offered housing subsidies and tax exemptions to locate new enterprises in government-designated districts. One program is designed to attract Chinese expatriates who hold overseas patents in specialized science fields, the report found. China is also recruiting Chinese managers in high-level positions in non-Chinese companies.
Federal policy and the traveler
Posted: November 19, 2012 Contents: Chapter 2 | Tags: adie tomer, brookings institution metropolitian policy program, federal regulations traveler, robert puentes, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel research, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 2 warns the travel journalist of the cost of traveling. In addition to price the travel journalist should be concerned with United States Federal policy. According to Adie Tomer and Robert Puentes from Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program,
federal regulations restrict competition and complicate travel in and out of the country. Even with major deregulation in 1978, the United States still prohibits international airlines from operating domestic routes. With domestic airlines consolidating routes and leaving many communities with fewer direct flights, does it make sense to restrict carrier options for these communities?
These are some of the major federal policies that affect travelers. Policies eventually trickle down and affect pricing. The frugal travel journalist should also beware of…
The road or roadless to adventure
Posted: November 5, 2012 Contents: Chapter 3 | Tags: adventure journalism, adventure writing, avery stonich, backcountry, outdoor industry association, road trip, roadless areas, travel adventure, travel journalism, travel research, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 3 introduces adventure as an important niche topic for travel readers. Earlier this month, adventure travelers and consequently adventure writers received good news when the Supreme Court ignored a ruling that would allow individual states to downgrade protection on roadless(backcountry areas that have few roads or significant alterations other than trails) areas that may allow things like mining and deforestation in certain outdoor adventure areas. Avery Stonich of Outdoor Industry Association calls this effort or lack of a
major win, protecting these places for future generations.
Without these roadless areas there would be very little for the adventure audience to read about.
A step ahead of the stomach ache
Posted: November 5, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: budget travel, budgettravel.com, Fran Golden, stay healthy while traveling, travel health, travel journalism, travel research, travel safety, travel sickness, travel tips, travel writer, travel writing Leave a comment »Chapter 4 offers brief advice on how to stay healthy while traveling. Budgettravel.com‘s Fran Golden offers similar advice coaching travelers on how to keep their stomach safe while traveling. Golden offers a few tips every traveler can remember to avoid being apart of the 50 percent of travelers that receive some type of stomach sickness while abroad, he advises:
- One easy rule of thumb: If your lodgings don’t allow you to flush toilet paper, don’t drink the water. It’s a sign you’re visiting a region with an unsafe water supply.
- As for food, “Boil it, peel it, or forget it” has been the standard recommendation. Make sure food is served piping hot. If it’s been left out to cool, it could be harboring a growing colony of bacteria.
- Fly from flies. Never eat food that isn’t protected from insects, which can contaminate even freshly cooked…
Travel writer as an Orwellian
Posted: November 5, 2012 Contents: Resources | Tags: aaron hamburger, freelance journalists, matador network, matadornetwork.com, orwellian, travel advice, travel journalism, travel writer, travel writing 2 Comments »Resources offers advice from 100 freelance journalists. Aaron Hamburger from the Matador Network offers this: Be an Orwellian. Here’s a tidbit from Hamburger’s article:
Orwell’s prime enemy was vagueness, dullness, and cliché. In his formulation, either you’re choosing language or language chooses you. Or as Orwell puts it: ‘Modern writing at its worst does not consist of picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images to make their meaning clearer. It consists of gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by somebody else.’
Safety first, deploy decoy wallet
Posted: October 28, 2012 Contents: Chapter 4 | Tags: christopher elliot, national geographic, safety travel tips, travel advice, travel journalism, travel safety, travel writer, travel writing 1 Comment »Chapter 4 gives the travel writer two pieces of pre-travel advice on safety while traveling. Christopher Elliott of The National Geographic adds to this advice by offering the writer tips to solve every crisis during travel. Elliot offers this bit:
Regardless of your locale, always watch your things when in a new place. Carry a throwaway wallet or decoy purse containing daily cash and old photos but nothing that would make you hesitate to hand it over in a holdup. Keep a credit card and cash in an inside pocket. 1. Hand over the fake wallet. 2. Notify the police.
Do not hesitate to hand over anything in a hold up, no material object is worth risking your life.
Dealing with editors
Posted: October 23, 2012 Contents: Chapter 5 | Tags: editors, Julie Schwietert, matador network, matadornetwork.com, relationship with editors, travel journalism, travel journalist, travel journalist editor, travel magazine editor, travel writer, travel writing, travel writing editor Leave a comment »Chapter 5 delves into the pitching and getting published process. Julie Schwietert of the Matador Network shows the writer how to properly develop a relationship with an editor before getting work published. Schwietert also gives the writer advice on how to deal with negative feedback from editors. Here’s a bit of her advice,
They change words in your story- or even reshape it entirely.
How to respond
Try to react to this situation with as little ego investment as possible. These types of decisions aren’t intended to cramp your style–otherwise the editor wouldn’t have worked with you in the first place. Understand that editorial decisions reflect a complex algebra of factors, including the editor’s understanding of the publication’s goals, audience, and even finances; many of these variables won’t be clear to you at all. If something really rubs you…
