Leveraging Languages in a Changing Journalism Industry

As journalism pivots from sending Western journalists to foreign countries in favor of hiring local reporters who speak the language and understand the political landscape, while the Western market for local news in minority languages grows, speaking several languages can be key to your career as a journalist. From bilingual degrees in journalism to working in a multilingual newsroom, we’ll take a look at avenues for employment when English is not your only tongue.

Smaranda Tolosano

Translations & International Partnerships Coordinator, Global Investigative Journalism Network

Smaranda is a French-Romanian multimedia journalist and the point-person for translations, partnerships, and all multilingual things at GIJN. She has lived and reported in the U.S., France, Canada and Morocco. In 2016-17, she covered the last days of France's largest refugee camp, the "Jungle" in Calais, and is producing a multimedia documentary on the region's history of international migration and human rights violations.

In Morocco, she investigated the government's use of spyware to target regime dissidents, the emergence of feminist movements on social media to counter the country's ban on abortion, and cultural tensions around women's issues.

An avid photographer and illustrator, she is passionate about bringing stories to life using visual mediums.