Alessandra Bergamin, Oral History Interview, 2023
http://www.alessandrabergamin.com/about
Biography
Alessandra Bergamin is an award-winning Australian investigative journalist who divides her time between Melbourne and Los Angeles. Alessandra covers the intersection of environmental conflict and human rights around the world. Her work has appeared in The Baffler, In These Times, Harper’s Magazine, National Geographic, and The New Yorker.com, among others. In 2022, Alessandra was honored as a Distinguished Journalist by the Society of Professional Journalists, Los Angeles in the newspaper/print (smaller circulation) category. She has received fellowships and grants from many entities to investigate environmental and human rights issues.
In this interview, Bergamin reviewed her experiences and takeaways from reporting labor and human trafficking issues during the pandemic. She shared approaches and advice to developing and cultivating sources who reside remotely and in hard-to-reach communities. She also commented on the importance of mental health and the challenges of being a freelancer and woman journalist. Finally, she reflected on the meaning of the pandemic to her personally and professionally. She called for more understanding of the differential impact of the pandemic on different populations.