The School of Journalism hosted four foreign correspondents to share their stories and advice on working in the industry. They discussed how to gain journalism experience, the biggest barriers and their greatest moments yet.
We heard from The New York Times Russia correspondent Anatoly Kurmanaev, BBC Africa video journalist Jenna Abaakouk, Reuters US energy market reporter Georgina McCartney and CNN business and economics reporter Anna Cooban. All of these journalists completed their NCTJ training with us at News Associates.
The panel discussed what their working days look like, how to navigate unfamiliar patches, and what the biggest challenges of their jobs are.
Networking as a foreign correspondents
Being able to navigate social media to find scoops in the right area is a vital skill for any journalist, especially those overseas without the sources they may have at home.
Anatoly works as a Russian correspondent, and following the invasion of Ukraine, he has limited sources in the area he reports on.
“To continue to do our work, we rely heavily on social media,” he said.
“We use AI and occasional leaks inside the country to cover stories without being there.”
Georgina also mentioned the power of social media when making connections abroad.
She said: “I’ve gotten some of the best sources from messaging people on LinkedIn.”
The challenges
Anna is based in London and covers CNN stories from all across Europe. She said a big challenge her work is: “Having to turn your attention to stories that you might have zero experience in.”
#journorequest I’m a reporter at @CNN, writing a story about the difficulty of home ownership in many countries. I’m looking for examples of innovative schemes or approaches people and governments have taken to get more people onto the housing ladder. DMs are open!
— Anna Cooban (@annacooban) October 21, 2024
Similarly, Georgina is a foreign correspondent based in Houston and also sees how the cultural differences can be a setback in the industry, saying: “The UK and US seem similar but they are incredibly different.
“It is hard trying to relate to people on a cultural standpoint.”
Anatoly shared that he found that finding a work-life balance was an expected, but difficult aspect of the job.
“This job requires you to regularly uproot your life.”
Greatest moments
We asked the panellists what the most notable stories they have covered were.
Jenna said her most exciting project with the BBC was when there was an explosion at a petrol station in Kenya. She said: “We had to get people on the ground, get interviews, I had to edit three videos – that was a big day.”
Busy but fun day covering the @Afcon2025EN draw in Rabat for @BBCAfrica 🤩🇲🇦⚽️🏆🎥🎤 pic.twitter.com/US50IEpprQ
— Jenna Abaakouk (@jenna_ab) January 27, 2025
Anna said: “I did a lot of reporting on the energy crisis in Europe.
“Some pieces were technical pieces about the energy crisis and others were longer form pieces about the cost of living crisis in the UK, France and Germany.
“I’m proud of putting these human faces on economic stories.”
Expert advice
We asked our panellists for any advice for aspiring foreign correspondents.
Jenna said: “Reach out to expat newspapers, if they can pay you, great, if they can’t, you can do it on the side.”
She recommends keeping your options open and engaging in as much journalism as you can in your early career.
Anatoly said: “Try to become an expert on a particular area, in a particular industry, in a particular country.
“It is going to make your job of pitching stories or contacting news organisations when major developments happen in that area happen a lot easier.
“It will make what you are offering very hard to replicate.”
Torture in Venezuela on the front page of @nytimes today pic.twitter.com/0IubkcBPKl
— Anatoly Kurmanaev (@AKurmanaev) August 14, 2019
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