Inside the Newsroom: Q&A with Lin Taylor, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Posted by Katie Bryson on March 6, 2026How do journalists decide which refugee stories to cover? What makes a pitch stand out? And what mistakes do organisations keep making?
This is the first in our new series where IMIX talks to journalists who cover migration and refugee issues – giving the sector a direct window into how newsrooms work, what helps reporters tell ethical stories, and how to build relationships that lead to better coverage.
Why We’re Doing This
If you work in the refugee sector, you know the frustration: you pitch a story and hear nothing back. You read coverage that misses crucial context. You want journalists to understand the issue, but you’re not sure how to reach them, or what they actually need from you.
Meanwhile, journalists tell us they struggle to find the right people to interview, navigate safeguarding concerns, and build trust with organisations who are understandably protective of the people they support.
There’s a gap. And it costs everyone.
The sector loses opportunities to shape coverage. Journalists miss important stories. And the people whose experiences should be centred often get left out entirely – or worse, retraumatised by extractive reporting.
This interview series is designed to close that gap. We’re asking journalists the questions refugee sector organisations actually want answered.
Our first conversation is with Lin Taylor – a journalist who’s spent over a decade covering migration, humanitarian crises, and the policies that shape people’s lives. Her work has held governments to account, influenced parliamentary briefings, and centred the voices of people most affected by asylum policy.
Her insights are direct, practical, and honest. She doesn’t sugarcoat what works and what doesn’t. And she offers a roadmap for how organisations and journalists can work together more effectively.
About Lin Taylor
Lin Taylor is a London-based journalist and editor specialising in trauma-informed narrative, long-form and investigative human rights stories.
For over a decade, Lin has been covering humanitarian crises, migration, international aid, digital rights, gender, global inequalities and climate impacts, most recently at the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the non-profit arm of Thomson Reuters.
She has reported on these issues across Europe, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Australia, where she was born and bred after her family left Vietnam as boat refugees.
‘The Smuggling Game‘, a multimedia project on the mechanics of migrant smuggling that she co-produced with a colleague, was a finalist for the ‘Innovation Award’ at the European Press Prize 2018. It was also long-listed for a One World Media ‘Refugee Reporting Award’.
Prior to Thomson Reuters Foundation, she worked at CNN International in London and SBS News in Sydney.
Q1: Can you tell us about your role and what stories you typically cover?
I am a journalist and editor specialising in human rights issues like migration, humanitarian crises, gender, digital rights and other under-reported stories.
I was most recently a staff correspondent in London with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the non-profit arm of Thomson Reuters. I joined that newsroom 10 years ago at the start of the so-called migrant crisis in Europe and I’ve been mostly covering that story ever since.
Q2: How does your newsroom decide which refugee/asylum stories to cover?
Like most newsrooms, timeliness and newsworthiness are key. We also had unique metrics to hit like ‘user needs’ and impact, as well as everyday decisions like which section the story would fit under.
As usual, we would work out what the story is, why we’re doing this story, why now, and what sort of impact we could have if we tell this story.
Personally, I tend to centre marginalised groups and people who are most impacted by policies, so I would push to cover stories with that kind of framing. I also like to do stories that offer solutions, where possible, so it’s not all doom and gloom.
Q3: What makes a story pitch stand out to you?
This is a hard question to answer! Sometimes it is down to luck and what else is going on in the news.
But generally, it’s not a well-formulated story or pitch that catches our attention. If organisations can offer ‘case studies’ / people with lived experience, or experts, who can speak about an issue that is newsworthy right now, those are the best kinds of emails for journalists.
Leave the storytelling part to the journalist, but if you can help us with the missing pieces of the puzzle, that would be most useful.
What this means for you:
Don’t spend hours crafting the perfect pitch narrative. Instead, lead with:
- What’s newsworthy right now (a policy change, new research, upcoming event)
- Who can speak to it (case study, expert, data)
- Why this matters (one sentence on impact)
Lin will do the rest.
Q4: What are the biggest challenges you face when reporting on refugee issues?
Almost always, the biggest challenge is finding the right refugees/asylum seekers to interview about a particular issue. This can be hard because you want to highlight what they’re going through without retraumatising them. It takes time to establish that trust, as well as experience (and sensitivity!) to be able to interview people in a way that isn’t extractive, exploitative, or sensational.
Sometimes I offer them anonymity for privacy. And sometimes it’s better not to interview refugees directly, and instead, interview a support worker or solicitor who is helping their case.
Q5: What do you wish refugee sector organisations understood about how journalism works?
It’s hard, but try not to meddle too much with the process. For example, many organisations want me to send over interview quotes for review. I understand that they don’t want to be misinterpreted, but it’s a slippery slope if the media isn’t allowed to do their job freely and independently.
(Having said that, in some cases, refugees and asylum seekers might want to check that sensitive information isn’t published or broadcast, so they might request for quotes to be reviewed beforehand. For me, that’s usually fine as I don’t want to accidentally reveal something that could put them or their family at risk.)
Also, not every conversation or interview we do turns into a story, unfortunately. Sometimes it’s for background research, sometimes the pieces don’t fall into place and we have to spike the story.
Keep offering us interviews anyway! Keep sending reports and emails and any research because it all helps us. These sorts of stories take time, and you just don’t know what the journalist is working on or will work on in the future.
I have loads of story ideas that I file away and sometimes I will revisit them years later.
There’s also nothing more frustrating than doing a great interview only to be told it was off-record afterwards, so please assume that every interview is on-record. If not, tell us before we speak to you so we know what to expect.
Things to avoid:
- Asking to review quotes from organisational spokespeople (undermines editorial independence)
- Assuming every conversation will turn into a story (it won’t, but keep the relationship going)
- Telling a journalist something was off-record after the interview (decide beforehand)
What helps:
- Offering case studies even if they don’t immediately result in coverage
- Sending research and reports regularly (journalists file ideas away for later)
- Being clear upfront about what’s on/off record
- Understanding that safeguarding review for people with lived experience is different from organisational quote approval
Q6: Can you share an example of a story that worked really well – and why?
I have been covering the fact that Ukrainian refugees do not have the right to settle permanently in the UK due to their special Ukrainian visas. The ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme let hundreds of thousands into the UK relatively quickly and easily, but those visas do not lead to permanent settlement. This has left lots of Ukrainian refugees and their families in limbo.
I was able to cover this story and speak to Ukrainians because the legal charity I liaised with trusted me and helped me find case studies. My reporting was included in a parliamentary research briefing on this issue.
A few months later, I saw that the government extended Ukrainian visas for a few more years, and I’m grateful my reporting had a small part to play in that. There is still much more reporting to do on this though.
That’s just one example of how organisations and journalists can work together to hold powers to account.
What made it work:
- A legal charity had built trust with Lin over time
- They connected her with case studies who were willing and able to speak
- The story had clear policy impact (visa extensions)
- The coverage influenced a parliamentary briefing – showing real-world change
Q7: What are some common mistakes organisations make when approaching journalists?
If you do approach journalists, you need to come armed with new research backed up with good data, strong case studies, or a media release/statement that is newsworthy and timely.
Even then, it might not get picked up or published because, for example, they might not cover breaking news, or perhaps there’s something bigger going on that is dominating the headlines.
Common mistakes:
- Pitching without new data, research, or case studies
- Not understanding the journalist’s beat or outlet
- Sending generic press releases that aren’t timely
- Getting discouraged when a story doesn’t run (bigger news may have bumped it)
Q8: How can refugee organisations best support ethical, accurate coverage?
Make sure the experts or case studies that you put forward are properly briefed and media trained, or at least aware of how to deal with journalists.
You can’t assume that every journalist will report on such issues with care, so make sure you prepare them as much as possible. That could mean doing an off-record chat with the journalist to understand what their angle is or questions they’re interested in etc.
Brief your case study and help them understand what they’re getting themselves into. As a journalist, I explain to every refugee or asylum seeker I interview that whatever I publish will live online forever and can be seen by anyone, so they need to be 100% sure they want to speak to me. And even then, I double check that they’re ok with what they shared before I publish.
But you can’t assume that every journalist will do that.
What organisations should do:
- Media train people before putting them forward (or at least brief them)
- Do an off-record call with the journalist first to understand their angle
- Explain to case studies that coverage lives online forever
- Help them understand what they’re consenting to
- Don’t assume every journalist will be as careful as Lin
Q9: What stories are you hoping to tell in the coming months?
I want to continue reporting on the digitalisation of border control and its impact on migrants which is an emerging issue, especially as AI adoption and surveillance becomes more prevalent.
This comes under the wider issue of global humanitarian aid being cut back significantly, which will end up displacing more people, leading to even tighter border controls.
Q10: Any final advice for refugee sector communicators?
Flooding journalists with stories of “positive” refugee role models is nice but those sorts of stories are not going to get much traction these days, or at best they will live in an echo chamber.
As journalists, we want to report on hard data and ground-breaking research so think about what sort of issues you can dive into to give us new and fresh information that will actually drive national or global conversations.
Key Takeaways for the Sector
1. Lead with what’s newsworthy and who can speak, not a perfect pitch
Don’t craft elaborate story proposals. Instead, offer case studies, experts, and data tied to something timely. Lin – and most journalists – will do the storytelling. You provide the pieces.
2. Build relationships for the long term, not just individual stories
Not every conversation turns into coverage. Keep sending research, offering case studies, and staying in touch. Journalists file ideas away and come back to them months or years later. The charity that connected Lin with Ukrainian refugees had built trust over time – that’s what made the story possible.
3. Prepare people properly, but don’t control the journalism
Media train your case studies. Brief them thoroughly. Help them understand what they’re consenting to. But don’t ask to approve quotes from organisational spokespeople – that undermines editorial independence. Safeguarding review for people with lived experience is different and often appropriate.
4. Move beyond “positive refugee stories” to data-driven accountability journalism
What drives national conversations? Hard data. Ground-breaking research. Investigations that hold power to account. Think about what you can offer that’s genuinely new.
About Thomson Reuters Foundation
Thomson Reuters Foundation is the corporate foundation of Thomson Reuters, the global news and information services company. It works to advance media freedom, foster more inclusive economies, and promote human rights.
The Foundation’s journalism arm operates as an independent news service covering humanitarian issues, modern slavery, human trafficking, women’s rights, climate change, and resilience. Its reporting reaches millions through partnerships with major outlets and direct distribution.
The Foundation is known for solutions-focused journalism that centres marginalised voices and holds governments and corporations to account.
Want Help Pitching Your Story?
IMIX supports refugee sector organisations with:
- Media training for spokespeople and people with lived experience
- Pitch development and journalist relationship-building
- Safeguarding guidance for ethical storytelling
- Strategic communications planning
Contact us: media@imix.org.uk
Learn more: imix.org.uk/media-support
This interview was conducted in February 2026 as part of IMIX’s “Inside the Newsroom” series, helping refugee sector organisations understand how journalists work and how to pitch stories effectively.
