"Foreign correspondents think about what’s happening around us and what can we do about it"

Elena Lentza is a US-based foreign correspondent and a member of the AFC-USA. She is a journalist and reporter who can understand 5 languages and writes regularly about international politics, United Nations, and everything related to Portuguese-speaking communities in the USA. After finishing the Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Porto, she started her career in the Portuguese News Agency, LUSA, in Lisbon. Elena spoke to Foreign Press and shared her experiences as a foreign journalist working in America.

Reporting in the U.S.: Expectations v.s. Reality 

Lentza shared with us that her dream was to be a foreign correspondent but was unprepared for its reality. She described loneliness to the job as her team is back in Portugal. “Everything is a different world almost because I hadn’t lived in the U.S. before,” said Lentza. She experienced a culture shock in moving to the U.S. and didn’t know many people but found community through the Association. 

“It’s a dream I never dreamed about.”

Lentza described reporting at the United Nations and the honor she feels to be there representing Lusa. At the United Nations, she talks to economists, Portuguese politicians, and the Secretary-General, who also happens from Portugal. Lentza also talked about how reporting on Portuguese-speaking countries includes several countries in Africa. Lentza recently covered the Mozambique terrorist attacks “the United Nations is following that, [they] have all the time new updates on that, that’s what I’ve been working on.” 

Portugal’s pandemic response in comparison to America’s

On the vaccination rollout: “Here in the United States, we know it’s going very fast, you can find it almost everywhere, it’s not the same in Portugal, and even less in other parts of Europe.” Lentza also compared Portuguese restrictions to America’s. She spoke on Portugal enforcing stricter rules because it’s a smaller country than the U.S. She also touched on the difficulties of cooperation between states, likening U.S. states to separate countries with governments constantly going head to head. Lentza was amazed by the strict rules of Portugal in response to the pandemic but also impressed. “Here in the United States is where the virus has been the worst, but we didn’t see [that many] rules.”

A childhood of migration inspired Lentza to pursue a career abroad

“Traveling, seeing other countries, because I had to do that because I was an immigrant, I think that’s what made me love traveling. I thought if I could do journalism while traveling, that would be the best.” Lentza also credits her passion for international journalism to her natural curiosity and passion for learning. 

Lentza’s advice to journalists new and experienced 

Lentza spoke on how she started her career and the importance of interning, volunteering, and making connections. “Make the connections, make the connections last because you never know when you might have an opportunity,” said Lentza. She added that it’s also important to make memorable impressions.  “Being very proactive, offering these ideas, because we still have to do that, being journalists, being paid, we also have to think about what’s happening around us and ‘what can I do about it.’”