She also notes that it took three weeks to a month to first settle into the space and new work-from-home setup.
“It was disorienting. I was nervous at first that I wouldn’t be able to pull it off, and I questioned, ‘How do I make sure they won’t forget me or worse yet, think that I’m not working,’” she recalls.
She calls in frequently, checks in with her team, and continues to help them get the tough stories, from how to get the information they need, find individuals to talk about it, and source the documents to illuminate the information. She also balances her day with time at the gym (when it’s open), and a real lunch break, even if the kitchen is just a few steps away from her desk. Then, the work continues.
“The techniques are still the same,” she says of the investigative reporting during COVID-19. “What’s different is that we can’t go talk to anyone in person. We are now using smartphones and Zoom,… but this type of hardware and software skews to the middle class and upper class, and it’s going to be an enormous challenge to reach the most vulnerable and most likely to be harmed.”
To read more of Forsyth’s work, as the team continues to pursue the topic and overcome the challenges, visit https://www.wsj.com/.