I have had quite the week as a story that I first pitched before Christmas to complete tumbleweed has now generated multiple articles for different publications. I also came at this a bit backwards to my usual approach but it paid off. So buckle up and let me tell you all about vaccine uptake.
Having worked as a health journalist for well over two decades now, there is one story that has followed me in one way or another since the beginning and that’s vaccines and in particular MMR.
I recently found an article I wrote in 2004 (in my clippings, there was no website) warning of a winter measles outbreak due to falling confidence in the MMR vaccine. Andrew Wakefield and his now very discredited vaccine scare stories have cast a long shadow. But that story has also changed over time and the post-pandemic fall in children having their recommended jabs is now a different and complicated picture.
Before Christmas I learned there was a small measles outbreak in an area of Sheffield with low MMR uptake. I got in touch with the public health director who I have spoken to for other stories who put me in contact with a team of GPs who have been trying to improve vaccine coverage in deprived areas.
They were very keen to talk to me and we had a lengthy Zoom chat where they spoke about all the different projects they were doing but also all the barriers that are put in their way with regards to funding, national policy and so on. I had so much stuff and they were really keen to get their message out there. I was honest with them and said I would pitch it to various places and keep them in the loop
I first pitched a local publication who got back to me and said they didn’t want health stories at the moment. Next I had a chat about a possible joint byline with a health reporter at The Sunday Times who said he’d wanted to do something on this topic for ages but couldn’t get anyone interested. I vowed to attack it once more after the holidays and put it on the back burner for two weeks.
As I came back to work in January, measles cases were spreading rapidly, particularly in the West Midlands. On Monday I was doing a shift for Doctors.net who were looking for ideas so I wrote a quick piece for them from the medic perspective about why some communities had lost trust in vaccination and what they were doing to address it. That did really well online showing me there was interest in the story but only registered doctors can access that site.
Despite there being more and more coverage in the nationals about measles outbreaks no one was really talking about the reasons why. On Wednesday just as I was about to press send on a pitch on this to The Guardian, my contact at The Sunday Times messaged to say their science editor was being dispatched to Birmingham this week to find out why MMR rates had fallen so much and could they give me a call. Yes, I said immediately, but I warned them I was about to pitch. Long story short, they paid me a day rate to send over all I had and to do some more interviews in the West Midlands and find a GP practice they could visit. It meant I had to drop everything else I was doing but I got everything they needed over that afternoon.
A few days later I had a joint byline on a large exclusive piece in The Sunday Times. Yet I still felt there was more I could do. A lot of the interviews I had done hadn’t been used because there was simply too much. So on Monday this week I pitched a feature to the BMJ on the need to build trust with patients - continuity, growing relationships over time, etc. GPs and health visitors told me they were struggling to do this in the way they once did because they were under so much pressure and short-staffed. The BMJ said yes as long as I could file quickly this week. No problem - I already had most of the interviews I needed. And it meant that the pretty low day rate I was paid for The Sunday Times work would now be bolstered by the BMJ article for not much more extra effort on my part. I’ll see how it goes but I have a feeling I may not be done with this topic yet.
There are definitely some lessons to be learned from how all this has panned out:
Timing is key - it wasn’t that my pitch was dull, the story just needed to become more urgent for editors to be interested
The same story can be told in multiple ways for different audiences
Keeping in touch with contacts will pay dividends in the long run
If you’re knowledgeable about a story, that in itself makes you the right person to report on it even if rest of the world seems to be talking about the same thing
Be patient but also strike while the iron is hot and don’t be afraid to chase
Be prepared to drop things when a good opportunity presents itself
Podcast
In our final Freelancing for Journalists podcast of this series we talk to Precious Adesina about arts and culture journalism. Curating an interest in the arts from an early age, Precious went on to work for The Telegraph before going freelance. She talks about the challenges faced by black journalists, how she champions arts writing and her passion project as a radio presenter. It’s a great listen so find us in your usual podcast places or click the link below.
Women in Journalism event
We wanted to flag up that Women in Journalism are holding an interactive panel discussion on ‘What’s next after X?’.
Twitter revolutionised news, it democratised agendas ensuring some stories previously overlooked by editors were now at the top of agendas. Journalists, including freelancers, built platforms and influence that stretched beyond their usual audiences and case studies became much easier to find.
But, with rumours of X considering going behind a paywall, what would that mean for free news at the point of access, what does that mean for news publishers and broadcasters? What is the next platform for journalists to gather contacts and leads?
Grab your place for the event on the 31st January at 6.30pm at Cision in London by clicking the link below. Tickets are priced from £5.
Triumph of the week
The whole plan for the week getting torn up on day one and still making it through
That feeling when
You look at the diary and realise it’s still January. Why is this month so long….?
We love to hear your feedback on everything we do, so feel free to drop us an email anytime at freelancingforjournalists@gmail.com
Bye for now!
