Fixers in corporate media: Pashtun journalists under threat in North Western Pakistan

Abstract

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 stories, 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.

Keywords

• International correspondence
• fixers
• hegemony
• colonial legacy
• exploitation
• working conditions
• security
• identity