Freelancer Focus: Bill Gentile
A MASTER CLASS ON FREELANCING
Bill Gentile is a busy man who seems to have forgotten where he put his “off” switch.
He teaches an array of popular journalism classes at American University in Washington, D.C. After a standout career of covering conflicts and cultures around the globe, he still picks up freelance photography and video work outside the classroom. And today he’s deep into the marketing of a documentary he produced about intrepid freelancers in dangerous locations. He expects FREELANCERS, with Bill Gentile will become a video series.
The pilot, about journalists taking on the risky beat of covering drug trafficking and violence in Mexico, can be seen on a number of platforms here, while Gentile seeks funding for the next episode.
Gentile has been running and shooting since the late 1970s, when he covered the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua for United Press International, and the subsequent Contra War as Newsweek magazine's contract photographer for Latin America and the Caribbean.
His work in Latin America is his career highlight. “I lived there during seven years, some of the most formative years of my life.”
In a recent article about his time covering Central America, he writes:
“It’s here (in Nicaragua) where I first witnessed war. It’s here where I first saw violence used to achieve political and social change … It’s here where I met my first wife. It’s here where I came to recognize privilege and power as enemies.
Nicaragua also is where I came to understand and to cherish my role as journalist. So here begins the story of what I discovered about war, about journalism, and about myself.”
Gentile’s answers here were edited for clarity and space.
Q: In journalism there are competing, conflicting definitions for the word "freelance." For some the moniker is foisted on them via layoffs or the collapse of news outlet. For others it's an honorific, demonstrating true independence in the practice of news gathering and storytelling. How do you define the word? How do you define it in the context of your body of work?
A: That's an interesting and perceptive question. When I first started out in 1977, freelancing was a bold, voluntary step into the fray of journalism with the hope of "making it" to a position of staff correspondent or photojournalist.
Today many members of our guild are involuntarily dumped into the category. What I've found specifically, in today's field of foreign correspondents, is that some prefer working as freelancers because they enjoy freedom from corporate media—and from a corporate agenda. Also, I define many photojournalists as freelancers because, despite an affiliation with a stock photo agency like Getty or Zuma, they do not enjoy the steady pay or benefits provided to colleagues on staffs of major newspapers, magazines or wire services.
I am affiliated with Getty Images, which markets my photos and videos. But I am a freelancer.
Having said that, I have the added luxury of a steady job, at American University in Washington, DC, where I teach mostly photojournalism, backpack journalism and foreign correspondence.
My extracurricular work is "freelancing." I must deal with an uncertain and whimsical market where I must pitch, negotiate and execute work that too often does not pay enough to live decently on.
Q: What inspired you to dedicate so much time and effort into pulling together these documentaries about the work of independent journalists worldwide?
A: I started my career some 40 years ago as a freelancer. I lived for four years in Mexico and seven in Nicaragua, spending much of my time there freelancing. I've had a gratifying career and I feel an obligation to give back to our craft, to the people colleagues who practice it and to the people who have been so generous as to allow us to tell their stories.
At American University I teach a course that I modeled after a course I took during my graduate studies—Foreign Correspondence. But today that craft is under siege. Mainstream media have closed bureaus and cut staff around the world. Into that void go freelancers, where journalists are often attacked, online and in the streets. It now is fashionable to call us "enemies of the people" and purveyors of "fake news." In foreign countries, especially, journalism can be a very dangerous profession.
All of these factors inspire me, drive me really, to support and to protect freelancers who are the most valuable, and often the most vulnerable links in an informational chain stretching from global hotspots to newspapers and screens here at home.
I want Americans, especially, to understand what freelancers really do. I want to push back on stereotypes. Without freelancers, our view of the world grows darker and our democracy suffers.
Q: At some points in your career, you could have played it safe and become a staff photojournalist, and from there probably onto a fine editing career. Why did you choose to remain independent?
A: To be accurate, my main gig is at American University. My freelance work is, in many ways, tied into that teaching job. For example, my most recent freelance production is what I hope will be the pilot of a series called, FREELANCERS with Bill Gentile. I produced the one-hour documentary in Mexico with Associate Producer Matt Cipollone, who was a graduate student at the university. The School of Communication where I am assigned supported the effort with a couple of travel grants. My association with the university gives me a certain kind of legitimacy that I otherwise would not have. But yes, I never wanted to take "the safe route." My first love is the field, and I will continue to go out there for as long as I can, as a freelancer and despite the risk.
Q: What kind of advice would you give to young journalists looking to make their way in this chaotic, changing news business? Do you see more people choosing the independent route? Are more young journalists cross-trained these days on print, images and audio?
A: I tell young journalists to learn as many skills as you can. Paramount among them is the ability to write. Yes, that’s true even if you want to work as photojournalist or video-journalist. Also, research the lives and careers of people you’d like to emulate. Reach out to them and ask for their guidance.
I do see many journalists taking the independent route today. It's tougher now, but it can be rewarding. You give up security and stability for freedom and independence.
Finally, I urge journalists to be generous, professional and ethical, especially with your colleagues. Remember that you can spend 20 years building a reputation and 20 minutes burning the whole thing down.