My First Byline: Laura Belin
My First Byline: Laura Belin
Editor and publisher, Bleeding Heartland
What is your current job?
Publisher, editor, and primary reporter at the Iowa political website Bleeding Heartland, and part-time statehouse correspondent for KHOI Community Radio.
What was your first byline?
I didn’t work on a high school or college newspaper. My first byline was for an op-ed I wrote as an undergraduate, which the Washington Post published in 1989. I argued that the Planned Parenthood slogan “Keep Abortion Safe and Legal” was counterproductive, because it framed the reproductive rights debate in a way that would help opponents.
Instead, I wrote, Planned Parenthood should use rhetoric that emphasizes personal freedom and a woman’s right to choose.
The point doesn’t land as well in 2024 as it did 35 years ago, when there was more stigma surrounding abortion.
Read the highlights of what more than 200 journalists had to say about how to get a job in the industry in the first year of Your First Byline.
What was your first real job in journalism?
I was an assistant research analyst for the Prague-based Open Media Research Institute. We had about 30 specialists—some academics, some journalists—writing about the former Communist bloc countries. My beats were connected to Russian domestic politics: campaigns and elections, parliamentary happenings, and the news media.
How did you get it?
I had an unfulfilling job (not journalism related) in New York City and decided to look for work in the Russian field, ideally in Europe. I had spent two years in the UK getting a master’s degree (MPhil) in Russian area studies.
In September 1994, I interviewed in New York with the director of the Open Media Research Institute, a Soros-funded operation set to launch soon. OMRI was going to be the successor to the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Research Institute, which was spun off from the rest of RFE/RL due to budget cuts following the end of the Cold War.
I thought the interview went well. Soon after, the director told me I was on the short list for a position in the Russia section. He said he would get back to me within a few weeks. I never heard from him later that fall, so I assumed they had hired someone else.
In January 1995 I decided to travel to Prague, where I had friends to stay with and a promising lead (I thought) on a different job.
Somewhere, I had heard or read that it can be helpful to ask why you weren’t hired, so you can understand your weaknesses and apply the feedback to your next job interview. From my friends’ apartment, I overcame my fear of humiliation and called the OMRI director. He said, “Boy, am I embarrassed to be talking to you.”
It turned out that the search committee had rejected all four candidates on the short list, for different reasons. I was “too green” (a fair assessment). But since I was in town, could I come down for a second interview?
At OMRI’s offices I was able to meet the person the director had hired to supervise the Russia section. Despite my relative lack of experience in the field, he felt I had potential to grow into the job. By the end of the day, I was shocked to have an offer in hand.
They gave me a few weeks to go home and pack my things. I moved to Prague in the middle of February.
What advice do you have for people looking to break into journalism?
I have never worked in a traditional newsroom, so your mileage may vary!
Go away from the pack. Show you can add value by breaking news, or offering a different take on the story everyone is reporting. When I worked at OMRI, and later at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, I learned to look for stories or angles our readers wouldn’t find in coverage from the major Western newspapers’ Moscow correspondents.
People won’t come to my website if I am mostly duplicating the Iowa politics coverage of other news organizations. Every day I am thinking about how to add value. Can I find an exclusive state government story, or legislative news that was mostly overlooked? When everyone is chasing the same big story, like an Iowa Supreme Court ruling on abortion or our state’s lieutenant governor resigning, I try to provide the most in-depth coverage.
Show your work. Link to your sources. If you are following up on someone else’s scoop, give credit to the person who had the story first, with a link and “first reported by.” Treating other journalists with respect will earn their respect.
If you sink time into a story that turns out to be a nothingburger, walk away. Some of the worst journalism happens when a reporter is determined to churn out a full-length article, just because they read some documents or attended an event.
Find Laura at Bleeding Heartland or on Substack, X, Bluesky, or Mastodon.