The future of journalism is still remote

“We’ve gotten into a groove — and really, who wants to put dress shoes on again, anyway?”

Do you remember the last time you consistently worked in an office? For some of us, it’s been a long time! Remember when we had inside jokes IRL and crumbs in our keyboards? Sometimes we wore dress clothes and did our hair! We went to lunch and meetings and happy hours with people.

When the pandemic prompted news organizations to move journalists out of the office and into their homes, we all had to adjust. I haven’t worked from an office consistently since 2019, so this isn’t new for me. I guess my experience in working remotely is what led many of my friends and former colleagues to ask me for advice on how they should adapt to WFH life. They were forced into it by a pandemic — I chose it.

Many of us had to make a few changes to work effectively from home:

  • I had to upgrade my home computer situation to accommodate that WFH life. So I (eventually) stopped working from the couch and bought an inexpensive desk that fits into the corner of our bedroom, next to the dirty clothes hamper. It’s not a very glamorous workspace, but I have a second monitor, an array of fidget toys, and a nonstop view of the shoppers heading into the department store across the street. It works for me.
  • Creating a dedicated workspace made a huge impact on my focus and productivity. This was the place where I went for meetings; the light from the window made it unnecessary for me to get a ring light (but get one if you have the means). It also made it a little more of a challenge for my two cats to infiltrate my workspace.
  • I also found that keeping a consistent schedule is key to keeping my sanity. At home, it’s so easy to get sucked into working unnecessary hours, just because you have nowhere to go.
  • On that note, get out of the house! Go for a walk, do a fitness class online, or engage in some other kind of exercise. I did this every day in one way or another — think lots of walking phone calls outside, etc. — and it always improved my mood even on the coldest days.

We all had to find a way to work effectively outside the office. Now that we’ve been doing it a while, I suspect many will be lobbying to keep working from home, even if it is just a few days a week. We’ve gotten into a groove — and really, who wants to put dress shoes on again, anyway?

Mandy Jenkins is head of product at Factal.

Do you remember the last time you consistently worked in an office? For some of us, it’s been a long time! Remember when we had inside jokes IRL and crumbs in our keyboards? Sometimes we wore dress clothes and did our hair! We went to lunch and meetings and happy hours with people.

When the pandemic prompted news organizations to move journalists out of the office and into their homes, we all had to adjust. I haven’t worked from an office consistently since 2019, so this isn’t new for me. I guess my experience in working remotely is what led many of my friends and former colleagues to ask me for advice on how they should adapt to WFH life. They were forced into it by a pandemic — I chose it.

Many of us had to make a few changes to work effectively from home:

  • I had to upgrade my home computer situation to accommodate that WFH life. So I (eventually) stopped working from the couch and bought an inexpensive desk that fits into the corner of our bedroom, next to the dirty clothes hamper. It’s not a very glamorous workspace, but I have a second monitor, an array of fidget toys, and a nonstop view of the shoppers heading into the department store across the street. It works for me.
  • Creating a dedicated workspace made a huge impact on my focus and productivity. This was the place where I went for meetings; the light from the window made it unnecessary for me to get a ring light (but get one if you have the means). It also made it a little more of a challenge for my two cats to infiltrate my workspace.
  • I also found that keeping a consistent schedule is key to keeping my sanity. At home, it’s so easy to get sucked into working unnecessary hours, just because you have nowhere to go.
  • On that note, get out of the house! Go for a walk, do a fitness class online, or engage in some other kind of exercise. I did this every day in one way or another — think lots of walking phone calls outside, etc. — and it always improved my mood even on the coldest days.

We all had to find a way to work effectively outside the office. Now that we’ve been doing it a while, I suspect many will be lobbying to keep working from home, even if it is just a few days a week. We’ve gotten into a groove — and really, who wants to put dress shoes on again, anyway?

Mandy Jenkins is head of product at Factal.

Gordon Crovitz

Chicas Poderosas

David Cohn

James Green

Megan McCarthy

Matthew Pressman

Anika Anand

Rachel Glickhouse

Sam Guzik

Joy Mayer

A.J. Bauer

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

Amy Schmitz Weiss

Mandy Jenkins

James Salanga

Joni Deutsch

Stephen Fowler

Eric Nuzum

S. Mitra Kalita

Whitney Phillips

Millie Tran

AX Mina

Natalia Viana

Candace Amos

Zizi Papacharissi

David Skok

Ståle Grut

Anita Varma

Joanne McNeil

Laxmi Parthasarathy

Christina Shih

Mike Rispoli

Larry Ryckman

Ariel Zirulnick

Wilson Liévano

Alice Antheaume

Christoph Mergerson

Simon Allison

Julia Angwin

Brian Moritz

Gabe Schneider

Kerri Hoffman

Sarah Stonbely

Robert Hernandez

Richard Tofel

Shannon McGregor & Carolyn Schmitt

Cristina Tardáguila

Chase Davis

John Davidow

Jessica Clark

Sarah Marshall

Simon Galperin

Tamar Charney

Joe Amditis

Tom Trewinnard

Nik Usher

Paul Cheung

Stefanie Murray

Mario García

Anthony Nadler

Joshua P. Darr

Errin Haines

Juleyka Lantigua

Matt Karolian

Jennifer Coogan

Doris Truong

Victor Pickard

Francesco Zaffarano

Parker Molloy

Cherian George

Kristen Jeffers

Moreno Cruz Osório

j. Siguru Wahutu

Jody Brannon

Tony Baranowski

Don Day

Andrew Freedman

Jonas Kaiser

Kristen Muller

Raney Aronson-Rath

Cindy Royal

Matt DeRienzo

Jim Friedlich

Mary Walter-Brown

Burt Herman

Kendra Pierre-Louis

Daniel Eilemberg

Julia Munslow

Jennifer Brandel

Meena Thiruvengadam

Kathleen Searles & Rebekah Trumble

Shalabh Upadhyay

Catalina Albeanu

Jesenia De Moya Correa

Melody Kramer

Jesse Holcomb

Michael W. Wagner

Izabella Kaminska

Gonzalo del Peon

Amara Aguilar