"News 'fixers' are translators and guides who assist foreign journalists. Sometimes key contributors to bold, original reporting and other times key facilitators of homogeneity and groupthink in the news media, they play the difficult but powerful role of broker between worlds, shaping the creation
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of knowledge from behind the scenes. In Fixing Stories, Noah Amir Arjomand reflects on the nature of news production and cross-cultural mediation. Based on human stories drawn from three years of field research in Turkey, this book unfolds as a series of narratives of fixers' career trajectories during a period when the international media spotlight shone on Turkey and Syria. From the Syrian Civil War, Gezi Park protest movement, rise of authoritarianism in Turkey and of ISIS in Syria, to the rekindling of conflict in both countries' Kurdish regions and Turkey's 2016 coup attempt, Arjomand brings to light vivid personal accounts and insider perspectives on world-shaking events alongside analysis of the role fixers have played in bringing news of Turkey and Syria to international audiences." (Publisher description)
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"As a backbone of reporting in war and conflicts, fixers offer essential assistance to the foreign correspondent in conflict zones, also in Pakistan. With valuable local knowledge and contacts, fixers can arrange travel to secure entry of foreign correspondents into conflict zones in addition to sec
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uring interviews with otherwise unattainable figures, while offering reliable translation services. Pakistani media, despite being one of the largest and most developed in South Asia, remains under the strict control of powerful military establishment and government, while seeming to mirror the overarching government sentiment with a distinct lack of research-based news. Challenging this state of affairs, local journalist fixers seek to conduct research and investigative journalism, making them an attractive asset for western correspondents travelling to Pakistan. Based on data from interviews with local fixers and journalists in Pakistan, this article reveals the many security problems for local fixers in the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions in Pakistan. It also shows that the fixers’ rights and interests are not protected by media organizations or the governments. Additionally, fixers face increasing censorship from security agencies and death threats from militants. This study discusses the harsh realities fixers face in the conflict zones of Pakistan where international press lack access due to increasing restrictions imposed by the government, and the violence perpetrated against media workers by the Islamic State and other radical groups, like Taliban and Baloch separatists." (Abstract)
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"Though news fixers are vital to the practice of international reporting-helping journalists to understand foreign languages, set up compelling interviews, and navigate unfamiliar terrain-their role is rarely made transparent to news audiences. Without news fixers, journalists would struggle to cove
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r stories that unfold outside their own countries. Yet, fixers are some of the most underprotected and undervalued employees in the foreign news industry. This book draws upon interviews with 75 news fixers from around the world, in hopes of learning more about fixers' own perspectives on their important work. Overwhelmingly, these news workers suggest that they play the precarious role of 'cultural mediator,' bridging the divides that might exist between foreign journalists and the people who live and work in the places the journalists cover. Fixers also suggest that they deserve more upward mobility in the field of international journalism, as well as more protection from the news organizations that depend so heavily on their work." (Publisher description)
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"This chapter demonstrates the critical importance of stringers and local journalists to international news production, and how much harder we need to work to understand the motivations and perspectives of these excluded groups of journalistic actors. News bureaus should restructure to cater to the
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needs of these vital subaltern journalists to create higher quality journalism, while according these journalists proper credit and compensation. Post-Colonial theory finds several applications in current news structures. It is my belief that this analogy, which I introduce in some detail, can be further developed to better understand how modern news production systems function and can diminish their appropriation from the margins and subalterns. Chronicles about stringers and local journalists serve to humanize and illuminate these journalists, in particular for readers generally unaware of the invisible actors behind their daily international news. With greater empathy and understanding, the gap between news producers and consumers narrows, and consumers, in seeing the inner workings of news production, come to understand just how much to trust what they read on the page or hear on television." (Conclusion)
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"Local fixers are becoming increasingly important for international media due to escalating security threats to international journalists, budget cuts within international media organizations, and the disappearance of long-stay correspondents. Local fixers give local color and context to news storie
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s, but their work in conflict regions is extremely dangerous. Making things worse, fixers are at the bottom of the international correspondence totem pole. This paper approaches the situation from the perspective of fixers using qualitative in-depth interviews made in northwestern Pakistan, whereby we see fixers’ problems in a wider context of post-colonial relationships. The role of Western international journalists is discussed within a cultural context of hegemony, primarily drawing on theories of Edward Said and Antonio Gramsci." (Abstract)
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"The trend in international newsgathering is to greater reliance on local journalists and fixers to provide crucial information to a global audience. At the same time, these local journalists are themselves becoming targets of violence. Increasingly, local journalists are being killed in the line of
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fire. Their deaths create stress for their colleagues, families and communities. It remains a challenge to discern areas in which the global community can provide support to journalists in these circumstances. As long as we continue to rely on fixers and local journalists for news and information from hot spots around the world, we must also provide them with adequate support to mitigate risk, including to their mental health. Local journalists, such as those in the Central African Republic, are one of the most likely groups of journalists to experience psychological trauma, thanks to the implicit risks of their work, combined with public pressure to provide news from these situations. What support can be provided to these journalists and how can it best meet the specific needs of such a community? Can we promote resiliency? The first step is to acknowledge the dearth of relevant research on mental health and psychosocial support for local journalists in conflict or emergency settings. There is a need for research on the kinds of trauma (and resilience) that journalists experience and their causes, including impacts on the individual and colleagues and impacts on the work […] Second, "little has been done to develop treatments based on local coping styles, culture-specific idioms of distress, and culturally appropriate helping methods" (de Jong 2017, 209) […] Third, any training efforts of journalists should be accompanied with mental health and psychosocial support […] Finally, the United Nations has adopted the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity This may at least give some wider symbolic support to journalists who are victims of traumatic attacks. Ultimately, there must be a recognition that the mental health of the journalist can have an impact on their reporting - something that is particularly critical in conflict environments." (Conclusion)
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"This article examines some of the cultural differences between news ‘fixers’ and foreign reporters, focusing specifically on the expectations and experiences of the fixers, rather than the correspondents whose own perspectives have already been fruitfully explored. Drawing upon qualitative, sem
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i-structured interviews I conducted with 21 news fixers, I will answer three research questions: (1) How do fixers understand and value the work they do? (2) How do fixers view the cultural, ethnic, or racial differences that inevitably play into the professional relationships between local news staff and foreign news outlets? (3) How do these cultural differences impact the safety of foreign correspondents and fixers, most especially at sites of conflict? The study ultimately shows that fixers take issue with foreign journalists’ lack of background on the countries they visit and with journalists’ lack of attention to disparate cultural mores in the newsgathering process. Furthermore, the inattention to cultural difference in the field can endanger the lives of the foreign reporters as well as the lives of the fixers." (Abstract)
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"Der Auslandsjournalismus des 21. Jahrhunderts stützt sich zunehmend auf lokale Akteure der globalen Nachrichtenindustrie, die häufig als lokale »Stringer« oder »Fixer« bezeichnet werden. Auf Basis von Feldforschungen in Indien und Europa untersucht Martin Heidelberger diese lokale Teilhabe an
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der globalen Nachrichtenindustrie aus einer ethnologischen Perspektive. Er zeichnet nach, wie lokale Akteure in der Praxis Zugänge für reisende Journalisten herstellen, wie sie vor Ort übersetzen, Interviews übernehmen oder Medienprodukte für Auslandsredaktionen autonom produzieren. Die Studie zeigt, wie bei der journalistischen Kooperation lokale Standpunkte wirksam werden, die den Auslandsjournalismus verändern." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"[...] Explores the role played by local-nationals in covering the crisis for global audiences and how these journalists differed from the traditional, Western-born foreign correspondents who worked alongside them. The research draws on two methods: in-depth, semi-structured interviews with foreign
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correspondents in Khartoum, Sudan; and a content analysis of the news articles they produced. The results show that Sudanese journalists differed from Western foreign correspondents in a number of important ways. They worked in greater fear of the government of Sudan, and they had a different understanding of their role as journalists which, importantly, did not include a strong sense of their work as 'watchdog journalism'. The content analysis confirms that these differences matter; local stringers produced news that was significantly less critical in tone, presented fewer competing viewpoints, and privileged the government of Sudan's position." (Executive summary)
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