Pitches wanted (migration, environment, climate) (worldwide) | €250 to €500 per article

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: UNBIAS THE NEWS

Deadline: 9 February 2025

We’re seeking powerful, underreported stories on migration and the environment. Open to journalists of all backgrounds, especially those facing structural barriers. Deadline: February 9th. Pay: €500 per story, per author. Find all the details below:

PITCH TO  UNBIAS THE NEWS: CLIMATE AND MIGRATION

Call for pitches from Unbias the News: Migration (Europe-focused, but open to all); Environment (global).

Deadline February 9th.

Unbias the News is a Berlin-based international news outlet that covers underreported topics and seeks to break down barriers in the field of journalism. We are currently seeking migration and environment pitches.

We’re looking for stories that surprise and inform, that offer fresh perspectives and new ways of thinking about global issues. As ever, we encourage pitches from journalists of all backgrounds, with any level of experience, particularly those who face structural bias of any kind, and/or who speak English as a second or third language.

We pay 500 euros per story for reportage. Multiple authors can apply to work together on a cross-border or collaborative piece: all authors are paid equally (i.e. 500 euros each). We pay 250 euros for first-person narratives and opinion pieces.

MIGRATION

We’re open to pitches covering any aspect of migration with a European angle (though not necessarily Europe-based), but we’re particularly interested in stories exploring migrant activism and/or the intersections of migration and gender:

How are immigrants organizing to assert their rights and build lives in European countries where anti-immigrant racism is on the rise? What strategies are migrants using to resist oppression and abuse? What risks do they take when they speak out? What alliances are migrants forming with other activist movements? And how do they make their voices heard above those who might speak for them?

Gender stories could touch on: What risks do migrants face as women, girls, mothers, or LGBTQi+ asylum seekers? How do immigration regimes make it harder for women to migrate to Europe than men, or vice versa? What does this mean for immigrant families, or families split by migration? What role do gendered stereotypes play in European anti-immigrant racism? How does rhetoric against migrants dovetail with the far-right’s pushback against feminism and queer and trans rights?

ENVIRONMENT

We’re looking for stories that put a human face on climate impacts and present new narratives to navigate through the global ecological crisis. We’re open to environment pitches on any topic, from anywhere in the world, but we’re particularly interested in the following themes:

ECO SUB/CULTURES

Mainstream narratives often frame climate protection as compromise between people and the planet, economics and ecology. We’re interested in stories that close the gap and blur the boundaries between culture and nature: Ancient traditions that resist modern threats to biodiversity, identities shaped by the natural world, communities and ecosystems that depend on one another for survival.

We’re thinking culturally significant conservation sites, Indigenous eco-cultural practices, habitats that have evolved in harmony with human activity, climate activism as community-building, queer ecology… but we want your ideas – the pitches that excite us most will be stories that are new to us!

CLIMATE JUSTICE, CLIMATE DEBT

What does it mean for the Global North to pay its carbon debt by heaping financial debt on the Global South?

At COP29 in December, countries that got rich on fossil-fueled development fell woefully short of financial commitments demanded by those hit hardest by the climate crisis. What they did offer was mainly in the form of loans – at a time when many of the world’s poorest countries already spend close to half of their national budgets servicing sovereign debt. At the same time, microfinance initiatives that were supposed to support climate adaptation in countries like Cambodia adapt to climate change, have instead mired farmers in debt they cannot pay off, pushing them deeper into poverty.

We’d love to hear your ideas for protagonist-led stories that explore the role of debt and reparations in climate justice – whether in a literal, financial sense, or as ideas that shape local or international responses to the crisis. These could be investigations into the greenwashing of financial exploitation, stories exploring alternative ways redistribute wealth built on extractivism, or narratives that change how we think about the debt polluters owe to future generations - and to economies in need of truly sustainable development paths.

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CONTACT INFORMATION:

• Submissions: Via the webform

• Website: https://unbiasthenews.org

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: Unbias the News is a feminist cross-border newsroom established by Hostwriter, dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusivity in journalism. It collaborates with local journalists and diverse creators to challenge biases and decolonize media narratives. The platform aims to provide in-depth, fact-based reporting that reflects a multitude of perspectives, contributing to a more equitable world of journalism. More information here.

• Read through a selection of recent articles/stories on its website.

• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database and at SuccessfulPitches.com.

• Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a paragraph highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.

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