From UNC to NYT: Margaret Cheatham’s Story
“I didn’t really know what it was at all,” New York Times visual journalist Margaret Cheatham said to me as she took a bite of her jalapeño stuffed egg white omelet in the cafeteria of The New York Times building Tuesday morning.
That was the beginning of an hour long conversation we shared about her life.
Margaret drew inspiration from an early age from a childhood friend and mentor in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. Margaret went to UNC-Chapel Hill, studying Visual Journalism and graduating in 2011.
It was during this time that Margaret met Chad Stevens, a professor of visual communication at UNC. Margaret said that his talent for storytelling compelled her to devote more time to learn the craft.
However, the story that really got her started was a story that she did for a class assignment, “Goodnight Moon.” Margaret chose her grandmother who had Parkinson’s disease as her subject. Because her family was hesitant to allow her to cover the very private matter, Margaret felt a tremendous amount of pressure to do it the correct way.
“Doing that story right and learning how to do it well pushed me on. Then I started a chain of internships,” she explained. Since then, Margaret has a come a long way, stepping foot into the professional world at a very young age. Margaret’s resume is impressive to say the least, having interned at the Washington Post, MediaStorm and the LA Times before landing her first “real job” as a photo and multimedia producer for The New York Times in her early twenties.
She’s been at The Times for almost three years now and has only been practicing her craft for about six or seven years, although you would never guess that by looking at her work.
Margaret’s videos are brilliant and truly capture the human experience. Her stories are unique. Her subjects are memorable. Her topics are heart-wrenching. Her composition-A1. Margaret did a piece on stillbirth in the United States this past June that highlights these qualities. She tells the story of Eleni Michailidis who lost her baby, Alexander, at 38 weeks.
The majority, if not all, of her work focuses on people because of her passion for social issues such as health care, women’s rights and the construction of families. This deep compassion is apparent in the videos that she produces and the work that she collaborates on and it is a huge part of the reason why I think her work is so impactful and special.
If she were not a journalist, she says she would work for a non-profit organization or lead backpacking trips for teachers.
When asked what makes a good video, she said to me:
“You have to have a story. ..No matter how beautifully something is shot, it doesn’t have the same weight if there’s not a story…no matter how poorly something is shot, if you have an incredible story, people will still watch it.”
She added the importance of making your piece an appropriate length — something that I personally struggle with.
When discussing her unique technical go-to’s, Margaret said she enjoys shooting and editing in a very linear matter. This is what allows her to build a strong narrative. She also typically shoots a lot of details. “I like to see and shoot things in a way that people don’t get to see normally,” she said. Tight shots and straightforward images are what get the job done for her.
Hearing her story and learning more about her and her experiences really made me realize that this is what I want to do with my life. Margaret does not believe that just anyone can be a visual journalist. She told me that you need to be born with a certain innate quality that somehow just clicks. You need to have a true passion and interest in what you are doing in order to do it well. I feel that I have that.
“A lot of days this is my dream job,” Margaret said.
“You have my dream job,” I thought.
