While
the life of a journalist can be described as glamorous (mostly by other
journalists) the natural habitat of journalists unfortunately cannot be
described as such. Day in and day out, journalists go from press conferences
with beige walls to meetings at city halls with beige walls and then back to
the newsroom with beige walls. It's all too easy for journalists to fall into a
beige rut.
But every so often, a journalist catches a break. After months of pitching to
editors, he might finally gain approval for that much sought-after exotic assignment,
another thing journalists like.
A blissful combination of a furlough,
a junket and a lucrative short-term job, an exotic assignment is every
journalist's dream. “Why yes, Cathay Airlines in-flight magazine, it would be
no trouble at all to travel to Ko Phi Phi and write a 4,000-word article on the
experience. What's that you say? You pay $2 a word, plus expenses? All right,
that seems fair enough.”
Travel journalists own the shortest path to an exotic assignment. Freelance
journalists or writers with other specialties often need to be more creative.
If an editor won't bankroll a trip to Hawaii, sell her on a thoughtful essay
detailing the proud history of the luau. No room in the budget for a trip to
Spain? A Sunday feature on the rise and fall of bullfighting could rope in
readers.
Earlier this year, Australia's Queensland state offered the ultimate
exotic assignment: Six months on the Great Barrier Reef's Hamilton
Island, promoting the island on a blog. Compensation before taxes: $111,000.
Journalists were none too pleased to discover that the winner of the gig wasn't
a journalist at all--he was a lowly charity
worker, proving how elusive these exotic trips can be for
journalists.
So if you're planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip and know a journalist, invite
him along. You'll be doing your journalist friend a solid. Plus your Vegas
bachelor party will be 20 times more entertaining if it's chronicled in Penthouse.
Jonah Keri is a freelance writer for the Wall Street Journal, Investor's
Business Daily and a bunch of other publications. Read all about the devious
ways he lands exotic assignments at JonahKeri.com.


