FROM THE EDITORâS DESK
WorldWise readersâ
You may notice that this issueâs media opportunities section is shorter than itâs ever been. This isnât down to any change in curation habits: we still look for opportunities available to individual practitioners based anywhere in the world, with a focus on the Global South. I hope itâs a temporary blip. Howeverâsome of our regular sources are showing the same pattern. And, stories that come to me through the grapevine suggest that times are tough right now for many people working in the media, development and social change sectors. So Iâm kicking off this post by revisiting a few thoughts on dealing with stress and overwhelm.
Anita
INSIDER | views & experience
Itâs bound to happen.
All of us will suffer a blip in our career at some point. An unexpected setback, a break in the structure weâve tried to build over years. Whether temporary or long-lasting, itâs a time that calls on us to practise resilience. From previous posts, here are a few tips that have helped me work through challenging periods in the past.
On managing dry spells without the negativity.
1âMomentum: Keep your work momentum going. Tackle tasks that youâd have no time for if there was an active project on your desk. It helps to prioritise actions that will help land the next job, and/or work more effectively: research, organising, streamlining, etc.
2âNetworks: Donât isolate yourself. Reach out to professional contacts, whether itâs virtually or meeting over an actual real-life coffee. There could be a specific goal to this, discussing an opportunity for example, but itâs not at all necessary to have one. Just keeping visible and connected will make you feel better. And it could pay off for work in the future.
3âTrust: In low moments, donât panic. Trust that youâll know what to do to get out of a sticky situation, should it arise. It was a little strange, but every time I felt like giving up, something would crop up the very next day to spur me on. After a while, I got the message: just keep going.
Read more:
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Thereâs one thing that usually helps me deal with overwhelm, and thatâs to compartmentalise.
By that, I mean breaking up the day/project/whatever-creates-overwhelm into chunks of time/pieces/whatever.
But thereâs an extra ingredient. I find compartmentalising works best if it achieves at least one of three goals:
1âA sense of achievement: try to break things up into pieces that will actually help get things done, and give the reward of feeling a sense of completion on a regular basis.
2âLess task clutter: the process should ideally create chunks that simplify the work and clear clutter, which will enable better focus. This alone can reduce overwhelm.
3âBetter balance: avoid getting stuck in monotone when building a schedule out of these chunks. Make them varied, by including things to do that stimulate different faculties / modes of working / aspects of daily life.
Read more:
OPPORTUNITIES | working with the media
training+grants
GLOBAL | DW is inviting creative professionals who want to shape the journalism of the future to apply for its comprehensive, 18-month paid training programmeâclosing 17 November.
AFRICA | The Southern Africa Accountability Journalism Project is inviting editors, staff reporters or freelance journalists from selected countries to submit pitches for investigative stories that seek to expose wrongdoing, abuses of power, or failures of accountabilityâclosing 21 November.
AFRICA | The RCDIJ Africa Fund is offering grants for small to mid-scale data and/or investigative journalism projects spanning a range of topics including health, environment, economy, migration and developmentârolling deadline.
pitches+positions
GLOBAL | Mongabay is looking for an Engagement Editor to lead on growing and retaining the outletâs English-language audience across social media, newsletters, and emerging platformsâapply now (no deadline listed).
GLOBAL | Mongabay is hiring a full-time Contributing Editor who will commission, edit, or write articles on topics related to the ocean, fisheries, and marine conservationâapply now (no deadline listed).
ASIA | Mongabay is looking for a Wire Reporter to publish short-form articles on conservation and environmental issues in Asia, as part of its Newswire Deskâapply now (no deadline listed).
ASIA | Bloomberg is looking for an experienced reporter to drive their climate change coverage in Indiaâapply now (no deadline listed).
AFRICA | Semafor is looking for a Chief Africa correspondent for business and economy-focused reporting alongside geopolitics, climate, tech and other topicsâapply now (no deadline listed).
ASIA | The Economist is hiring an Asia correspondentâapply by 3 October.
GLOBAL | New Scientis editor Olivia Goldhill is looking to build her roster of writers with big-idea stories in health and medicineâpitch now.
GLOBAL | Climate Home News is looking for pitches on the trends shaping the extraction, processing and governance of key raw materials for the energy transitionâpitch now.
GLOBAL | The Examination is accepting applications on a rolling basis for the positions of Investigative Editor, News Editor and Data Editorâapply now.
ASIA | Dialogue Earth is hiring a full-time South Asia Managing Editor (salary ÂŁ1,875/month)âclosing 3 November.
resources+tools
Finding â and Building â Your Professional Community to Strengthen Investigative Journalism - GIJN
5 tips for maximizing AI as a freelance journalist - Association of Health Care Journalists
Dorking for Dummies: Search Engine OSINT That Goes Beyond Google - The OSINT Newsletter
A therapistâs advice to freelancers on career uncertainty - Association of Health Care Journalists
How Newsrooms are Uncovering Asiaâs Climate and Environmental Crises â Global Investigative Journalism Network
How to make SEO-friendly URLs (most websites still get this wrong) - How the Fxck
IPI 75 Bookshelf: 75 books to celebrate press freedom and independent journalism â ipi.media
The Open Notebook has launched The Science Reporting Navigator, a toolkit designed to help journalists integrate scientific evidence, insights and context into any story, regardless of their beat.
Five takeaways from the ABSW Opinion-Writing Masterclass - Association of British Science Writers (Plusârevisit my tips from the archive: 3 steps to pitch an opinion + How to write an opinion)
đ¸ YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS
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UPDATE | from the network
Earlier this week, on November 2nd, the global media community marked the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. WorldWise marks it with the words of Dima Khatib, Palestinian journalist and Managing Director of AJ+, from an op-ed published by the World Association of News Publishers:
It is the largest massacre of journalists in human history.
In Gaza, 253 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since October 2023 â more than those killed in the wars of Afghanistan, Vietnam, the Balkans, World War I, and World War II combined. Yet these killings remain mostly uninvestigated, unpunished, and unacknowledged by those responsible â a stark example of the impunity that allows attacks on journalists to continue.
PLUS | global briefing top-up
On the heels of COP30
Itâs not exactly surprising, but still it makes headlines: the White House has confirmed it will not send any high-level officials to the COP30 climate summit, reports France24. Instead, Donald Trump is trying to boost the fossil fuel industry. And with Brazil saying that fewer than 60 world leaders have confirmed attendance, the COP power signal is weak.
âWill BelĂŠm Kill Paris?â In a comment piece for Foreign Policy, Nigel PurvisâCEO of Climate Advisers, professor and former senior US climate negotiatorâargues the upcoming summit is a test and a pivotal moment for the landmark 2015 climate agreement. Analysts at the Chatham House think-tank donât expect earth-shattering progress, citing the US withdrawal and âunderwhelmingâ climate plans.
But momentum may well lie elsewhere. Mayors have pledged coordinated action ahead of the summit, AP reportsâwhile the woman who led the negotiations in Paris, Christiana Figueres, writes in The Economist that what really matters is action in the Global South.
Meanwhile, the UN estimates that global emissions are on course for a 10% dropâthatâs far short of the 60% scientists say is needed to avoid catastrophic impacts, according to Bloomberg. This first-ever decline is expected by 2035, based on the latest national climate plans from China, the EU and dozens of countries. But overshooting the 1.5C target is now âinevitableâ, the UN secretary-general AntĂłnio Guterres told The Guardian and SumaĂşma.
And the evidence of life-changing impacts keep coming. A new report estimates that climate change is causing millions of avoidable deaths each year from heat, pollution and wildfires, Le Monde reports. On that note: the health and climate community has issued recommendations for COP30 negotiations, according to the Global Climate & Health Allianceâadditional signatories can be added on a rolling basis in the final days before COP.
More on impacts: Forbes reports on an analysis suggesting the Earthâs forests, soil and oceans are reaching a limit in their capacity to store carbon naturally. Almost a third of the heatwave days India experienced last year were driven by climate change, according to a new report in The Lancet cited by BBC news. And also in India, once-thriving crops are failing to adapt to the countryâs new temperature reality, according to Foreign Policy.
And yetâclimate denial is still very much alive. A study suggests the perceived seriousness of climate change is on the decline as politicians, businesses and the media communicate less about it, Eco-Business reports. Thereâs now an emerging coordinated pushback against attempts to sow doubt and delay action, according to DW.
Far from the world of denial, Indigenous people on the frontlines of the fight arenât being listened to. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism asks why.
The Amazon is not only a host for this yearâs COP but ground zero for the tension between denial and frontline, green investment and extractive industry: Dialogue Earth sees this yearâs summit as âa reckoningâ for this part of the world, while the editors of SUMAĂMA see themselves as war correspondents âreporting on the war waged against Natureâ. I leave you with words from their recent editorial Recentering the world, Amazonizing COP.
It is a lopsided conflict, in which Nature is being slaughtered and humans are not walking but running toward extinction. We are arriving at COP30 ready to challenge lobbyists from the oil, mining, soy, and carbon credit sectors.
SUMAĂMA has, since its foundational manifesto, defended the position that the legitimate centers of the world are where life is: the Amazon, other tropical rainforests, the oceansâall biomes. It is not where the market is, that is, the political and economic centers that are most responsible for climate collapse.
ICYMI
PS.
Thank you.
WorldWise is read across 82 countriesâit remains independent thanks to the support of subscribers like you, and to the rest of my nomadic work-life. Sign up | Browse archive | Sponsor an issue
Created and edited by Anita Makriâjournalist/writer, producer and editorial adviser covering global development and science in society. I also help selected organisations with compatible values to strengthen their media work. LinkedIn | Instagram | Email