How a shocking news story about my osteopath led to a first-person piece in The Times

Some of you may have seen the story about my depraved osteopath but I wanted to recap for the blog and throw in some advice that might be helpful when pitching opinion and personal pieces for you or your client. 

The day after I arrived back from my travels, I called for an appointment with my long-standing osteopath of 11 years. A man I saw regularly and liked. I was told he no longer worked there, and after repeated requests for more information, I was advised to look online. And there I was confronted with news article after article about him being charged for voyeurism earlier this year. And then when I checked again later that afternoon, on that particular day Torben Herborg was sentenced to three years and five months for eight counts of voyeurism. He had been caught spying on female students outside their halls of residence, armed with a camera and telescope, and wearing black gloves with black bin liners on the seat. And more details emerged. Torben had been targeting thousands of women for years, taking pictures and recordings of them on the beach, in their homes, on public transport and in his treatment clinic.

My head spun when I heard the news. I felt sick, betrayed and confused. I couldn’t compute that this was the same man I’d known for so long. A friendly family man who spoke proudly of his children and his work.

The news broke across the nationals soon after he was sentenced. At first it didn’t even occur to me to write anything; I was just was feeling utterly bewildered. And then as hours past, probably about 11pm, I thought that my perspective as a client of Torben's might make an interesting first-person piece. The nationals had covered his sentencing but I knew that they might be interested in a follow-up article with people connected to Torben. That night I formulated a pitch. A short and effective shot at catching an editor's attention. This is what I sent (but timed to land at 8am):

Subject line: 

Pitch: I was a client of one of London's worst voyeurs 

Hi [name of editor]

Hope all is well. 

I'm a freelance journalist for The Sunday Times, BBC and Guardian and I wondered if you might be interested in a first-person piece on being one of the Torben Stig Hersborg's clients. Osteopath Hersborg was jailed yesterday at Snaresbrook Crown Court, sentenced to three years and five months in prison for eight counts of voyeurism. It's a story that has attracted a lot of press. He was named as one of London's worst voyeurs. 

I was a client of Torben's for well over 10 years. I can describe what it was like to be his client and how I feel now after his secrets have been uncovered. It has emerged that he secretly filmed and photographed thousands of women in his clinic. Now I'm left wondering if I'm one of them. 

More info on the case here: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/torben-stig-hersborg-jekyll-hyde-osteopath-london-voyeurism-spying-students-naked-b1239517.html

Thanks

Susie

I sent it to The Sunday Times news editor but after not hearing back for an hour and knowing time is of the essence, I realised I needed to widen my net. And so I sent to it to the T2 editor at The Times (but explained I’d pitched The Sunday Times but hadn’t heard back). Next thing I knew one of the editors called me to say they’d love to commission me, and explained some of the points they’d like me to include (for example, my emotions, if I'd ever felt uneasy with him, and so on). She made it clear that it had be filed that day because other nationals would be following it up with other interviews or first-person pieces by other women similarly affected by this story. It meant putting aside the work I had on, and having to file by 4pm (though because of an appointment, I filed much earlier). It’s interesting how much you can do when under pressure (as I know from working on news desks) and by about 2pm (between doing some emails, lunch, and other tasks) I sent it over, and soon enough received emails back from the two editors involved (who I’d never worked with before), commenting on how much they loved the piece. First-person pieces are out of my comfort zone so this was heartening to hear. And because the piece was so personal, they paid me more than the usual rate, so that was a bonus (*starts knocking out all the personal pieces to boost the usual measly journalism rate).

The piece was published online later that night. One of the editors had warned me about comments, saying if I felt uncomfortable, they could turn them off. The comments were wild, with lots of victim blaming (I haven’t looked again so perhaps they might have been edited or taken down). But keyboard warriors said that I was gullible. That I’ve made it about me. That perhaps working in a box would lead to people to do this. I’m absolutely fine but I can understand why some journalists shy away from writing personal first-person pieces. It was out of my comfort zone but it felt important to speak about.

And I’m glad I did because since it was published, I’ve received numerous emails and DMs from fellow female clients, equally bewildered and left feeling like it’s dented our ability to trust men. Many of us are trying to encourage the police to find out if Torben recorded us, though it doesn’t look like the police have a shred of interest. 

If you’re looking to land an opinion piece for you or your client, one of the most important points to understand is that time is of the essence. Like the editor explained to me, she needed it filing that day so it could be in the next day’s paper (and online later that night). Write a snappy subject line/headline that will catch the editor’s attention; one you could imagine that title using. My pitch included why I should be the person to write it (longstanding client of over 10 years), and the emotions of how I was feeling after finding out he was a pervert, and a link to the story in case they hadn’t seen it. What would have helped the pitch is that the story featured in a lot of online titles that afternoon and then in the physical papers that day, so they might have already seen it when trawling the papers looking for stories (which is what I do when I’m radio producing….eg, how can we cover the story/move the story on?). 

Anyhow, here’s the print and online piece: