{"id":11046,"date":"2023-07-17T18:02:11","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T01:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/?p=11046"},"modified":"2023-07-18T08:34:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T15:34:26","slug":"interview-with-lindsey-mcginnis-editor-at-the-christian-science-monitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/uncategorized\/interview-with-lindsey-mcginnis-editor-at-the-christian-science-monitor\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Lindsey McGinnis, Editor at The Christian Science Monitor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lindsey McGinnis <\/strong>is the Asia Editor at The Christian Science Monitor<\/em>. She previously served as the Junior Editor\/Writer for the Monitor’s weekly news magazine, as well as the lead writer on the Points of Progress franchise. Read her interview here with Viney Kirpal<\/strong>, a trained personal essay and health writer.<\/p>\n

Viney<\/strong>: Hi Lindsey. Let\u2019s begin with understanding your role as Asia editor?<\/p>\n

Lindsey: <\/strong>I basically field all stories from Asia and Oceania, excluding photo essays, which go through our photo department. I’m in charge of shepherding those pieces from pitch to publication. This includes any Asia-related People Making a Difference<\/a> profiles or Explainers<\/a>, which are both features tailored for our weekly magazine, but also appear online and in our daily subscription product. Occasionally, I’ll field a commentary piece from Asia, such as this essay<\/a> on the anniversary of Partition. But mostly I\u2019m in the market for 900-1200 word news articles.<\/p>\n

Over the past year, we\u2019ve had some excellent stories from China, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Japan. A big focus for 2023 is working with freelancers to fill coverage gaps, especially in mainland Southeast Asia and South Korea. Anyone who\u2019s interested in contributing to the Monitor from those areas, please reach out to me!<\/p>\n

Viney<\/strong>: What kind of stories from freelancers work for you? Any thumb rules?\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n

Lindsey: <\/strong>The Monitor is interested in the values behind the headlines. We\u2019ve even started organizing our website around this concept. In addition to searching by region and topic, readers can browse stories<\/a> that explore themes of respect, trust, resilience, etc.<\/p>\n

This focus on values helps distinguish the Monitor\u2019s coverage from other publications, but more importantly, it ensures that the stories we put out into the world are constructive. So much of mainstream news fixates on what\u2019s dividing communities, and the values approach challenges us to think differently. Take this story<\/a> about capital punishment in Singapore. For most of our readers, that topic would feel quite distant, and the situation bleak. If we took a straight news approach, I doubt many would make it to the end of the article. But when framed as a community weighing safety against compassion, the story suddenly takes on wider relevance. We\u2019re acknowledging the humanity of all the people involved, approaching the topic with an open mind, and inviting readers to do the same.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, I\u2019m also a fan of solutions- and progress-oriented stories. These pieces still need to be newsworthy and rigorously reported, but it’s a good place to start if you want your pitches to stand out. Look for credible hope.<\/p>\n

Viney<\/strong>: I\u2019ve often seen a blurb \u201cWhy we wrote this\u201d in the middle of your features and articles. What does it imply?<\/p>\n

Lindsey: <\/strong>The Monitor publishes about five stories a day, so, as you can imagine, editors need to be really selective and intentional about why we\u2019re choosing to pour resources into a particular story. Before I greenlight a pitch, I\u2019ll work with the writer to answer that question: Why are we writing this? That answer will guide their reporting.<\/p>\n

Once a story is ready to go live, we share \u201cWhy We Wrote This\u201d out of respect for readers. Last year, in a Washington Post column about news avoidance, journalist Amanda Ripley cited the Monitor as an example of a publication creating \u201cNews for humans.\u201d She mentioned that by including that \u201cWhy We Wrote This\u201d blurb in all our articles, the Monitor treated readers like \u201crespected partners.\u201d I love the way she framed that, because this sense of respect for the reader is actually something that drew me to the Monitor years ago.<\/p>\n

Quick note for potential contributors: Before pitching to the Monitor, I highly<\/em> recommend you take 15 minutes and read through as many \u201cWhy We Wrote This\u201d blurbs as you can, in stories from several different regions. It\u2019s going to give you a better understanding of the Monitor ethos and improve your pitch.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019d be remiss if I didn\u2019t plug our weekly podcast, \u201cWhy we wrote this,\u201d<\/a> which launched last year. The series gives audiences an inside look at how Monitor journalists approach the news. It’s an opportunity to dive deeper into a particular story or beat, and to hear from the reporter immersed in it. That\u2019s also worth a listen for any aspiring Monitor contributor.<\/p>\n

Viney<\/strong>: How do you feel when you reject writers, many of whom could be good, but not the best, in your eyes? Do you give them constructive feedback? Do you permit writers to re-work pitches and re-submit them to you?<\/p>\n

Lindsey:\u00a0 <\/strong>It doesn\u2019t feel great. In an ideal world, I\u2019d love to workshop every pitch, especially when I can tell a lot of research and thought went into the email. I know what it\u2019s like to spend hours on a pitch, send it into a newspaper you think you know well, and hear crickets. But given the amount of pitches I receive, and the attention needed to shepherd stories through the production pipeline, that\u2019s simply not possible.<\/p>\n

That being said, I never intentionally withhold feedback. In other words, if in reading through a pitch, I have constructive suggestions, I\u2019ll absolutely send those your way. And even if I can\u2019t provide thorough feedback, I try to be clear and honest about why I\u2019m declining a pitch. Whenever I notice a new name in my inbox, I\u2019ll send them a copy of the Monitor\u2019s pitching guidelines, which offer tips on what we\u2019re looking for in a story. And of course, writers are always permitted to re-work and re-submit pitches, but I don\u2019t always recommend it. Unless I\u2019ve outlined very specific changes that would make the pitch work as a Monitor story, you\u2019re probably better off shopping it around to other outlets. Just because it\u2019s not a good fit for us, doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not a good idea.<\/p>\n

Viney:<\/strong> Please share three new tips that could help aspiring writers become better with each piece.<\/p>\n

Lindsey:<\/strong> (i) Think hard about the values that are driving your story, and not just when you\u2019re pitching to the Monitor. When I think back to my days as a local reporter, the values lens would have helped focus my reporting and allowed me to reach the level of nuance and depth I wanted faster. Even if you don\u2019t intend to frame a piece as a \u201cResilience\u201d story or a \u201cCompassion\u201d story, understanding the values at play will inevitably lead to a richer piece.<\/p>\n

(ii) Challenge yourself on sourcing. Don\u2019t just talk to the first experts that appear on a Google search. Take a look at your recent pieces \u2013 do you mostly talk to men? Are there women in the field who you could reach out to next time? Are you seeking out perspectives from different classes, castes, ages, education levels, ethnicities, and religious backgrounds? Are you speaking with LGBTQ people in stories that aren\u2019t specifically about LGBTQ rights? Expanding your source network can seem daunting, but it becomes easier with practice, and it\u2019s definitely worth the effort.<\/p>\n

(iii) Make a habit of asking sources what journalists get wrong. I would almost always end my interviews with some variation of that question: What do people misunderstand about your work? What do journalists get wrong about this topic? It can sometimes catch people off guard, but I\u2019ve had sources really surprise me with their answers (even if it comes days later via text). At the very least, it\u2019s a way to get ahead of mistakes before you start writing and foster trust with your source.<\/p>\n

\n

Viney: <\/strong>Thank you, Lindsey for a delightful interview! I\u2019m sure readers would love to pitch you. Lindsey can be reached at mcginnisl@csmonitor.com<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lindsey McGinnis is the Asia Editor at The Christian Science Monitor. She previously served as the Junior Editor\/Writer for the Monitor’s weekly news magazine, as well as the lead writer on the Points of Progress franchise. Read her interview here with Viney Kirpal, a trained personal essay and health writer. Viney: Hi Lindsey. Let\u2019s begin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editor-interviews","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11046"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11155,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11046\/revisions\/11155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}