Author Archives: Barbara Mantel

Barbara Mantel

About Barbara Mantel

Barbara Mantel (@BJMantel), an independent journalist, is AHCJ’s freelance community correspondent. Her work has appeared in CQ Researcher, Rural Health Quarterly, Undark, Healthline, NBCNews.com and NPR, among others. She helps members find the resources they need to succeed as freelancers and welcomes your suggestions.

Boost your reporting by tapping into libraries’ vast resources

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woman in library

Photo by Alexei Maridashvili via Unsplash

I remember a time when I would call up a government agency and ask them to fax me the latest government report, or when I would ask a think tank to overnight me a white paper.  Somehow, I managed to get my hands on the data and research I needed to report my stories.

These days, I’m grateful for the wealth of information available online. However, finding, accessing and interpreting it can be overwhelming. That’s where your local public or academic librarian can help.

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Barbara Mantel (@BJMantel), an independent journalist, is AHCJ’s freelance community correspondent. Her work has appeared in CQ Researcher, Rural Health Quarterly, Undark, Healthline, NBCNews.com and NPR, among others. She helps members find the resources they need to succeed as freelancers and welcomes your suggestions.

Top tips for breaking into narrative journalism

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Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko via pexels.

Narrative journalism can provide readers with a powerful and rewarding experience. Instead of cut-and-dry facts and figures, this form of writing focuses on developing rich characters and telling a story while explaining or analyzing a complex issue.

But writing a narrative piece — especially your first one — can be intimidating. These articles are extraordinarily time-consuming, require an intellectual and emotional commitment, and may involve costs editors aren’t willing to cover. The experience and finished product, however, can be well worth it.

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Barbara Mantel (@BJMantel), an independent journalist, is AHCJ’s freelance community correspondent. Her work has appeared in CQ Researcher, Rural Health Quarterly, Undark, Healthline, NBCNews.com and NPR, among others. She helps members find the resources they need to succeed as freelancers and welcomes your suggestions.

Freelancers: AHCJ has 41 market guides to help you
pitch your next story

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person using laptop

Photo by Lauren Gray via Unsplash

Do you have an article to pitch but aren’t sure where or how to send it? AHCJ now has over 40 market guides available on our Freelance Center, with the four most recent being: bioGraphic, Capital & Main, NBCNews.com and STAT. 

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Barbara Mantel (@BJMantel), an independent journalist, is AHCJ’s freelance community correspondent. Her work has appeared in CQ Researcher, Rural Health Quarterly, Undark, Healthline, NBCNews.com and NPR, among others. She helps members find the resources they need to succeed as freelancers and welcomes your suggestions.

Narrative journalism: What it is, what it requires
and how to make it pay

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jane c. hu, brady huggett, pamela weintraub

Jane C. Hu, Brady Huggett and Pamela Weintraub (pictured from left to right) will talk about how to break into narrative journalism during a July 24 webinar.

Great narrative journalism takes readers on a journey with scenes and characters as well developed as those in a good novel. Skilled narrative journalists use story arcs, vivid descriptions and intimate interviews to capture and hold readers’ attention while illuminating a complex issue. 

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Barbara Mantel (@BJMantel), an independent journalist, is AHCJ’s freelance community correspondent. Her work has appeared in CQ Researcher, Rural Health Quarterly, Undark, Healthline, NBCNews.com and NPR, among others. She helps members find the resources they need to succeed as freelancers and welcomes your suggestions.

A typical workday for freelancer Jeanette Beebe

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Jeanette Beebe

Jeanette Beebe. Photo by Kyo Morishima

For this installment of A Typical Workday, I interviewed independent journalist, fact-checker and radio/podcast reporter and producer Jeanette Beebe, who covers science, medicine and technology with a focus on social issues. Beebe’s reporting has appeared in Time, Scientific American, Popular Science, The Christian Science Monitor, Consumer Reports, Medscape, Fast Company and other outlets.

Her work as a freelance field producer and recordist has been broadcast by the BBC, Gimlet Media and NPR, and she fact checks for various podcasts and magazines, including Scientific American. 

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Barbara Mantel (@BJMantel), an independent journalist, is AHCJ’s freelance community correspondent. Her work has appeared in CQ Researcher, Rural Health Quarterly, Undark, Healthline, NBCNews.com and NPR, among others. She helps members find the resources they need to succeed as freelancers and welcomes your suggestions.