The dark side of news fixing : the culture and political economy of global media in Pakistan and Afghanistan /
The book argues that the definition of a "fixer" emerges when local journalists are deprofessionalized and their field expertise and connections are stripped away to produce a faceless, nameless, set of "eyes and ears" in service of the 24/7 media machine. The fact that we have t...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
London ; New York :
Anthem Press,
[2022].
|
| Series: | Anthem global media and communication studies.
|
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | The book argues that the definition of a "fixer" emerges when local journalists are deprofessionalized and their field expertise and connections are stripped away to produce a faceless, nameless, set of "eyes and ears" in service of the 24/7 media machine. The fact that we have the same news 24/7 across a range of news channels is an outcome of the simultaneous process of centralized decentralization, media conglomerates controlling news distribution and exhibition by hiring a scattering of fixers to do the groundwork of global news production. But working as a daily wager in journalism is not about risks taken or the self-exploitation endured. Rather, the role is an attack on the basics of the profession itself, the basic dignity of the journalist as an upholder of democracy. A fixer, who must be the eyes and ears of the people against forces of status quo, is reduced to a role and given as an instrument in regular journalists' hands to be used as a resource. Challenging existing literature on the topic, the book reveals the tension between actual local reporters and the role (read fixer) they are hired to fill. The book argues that fixer as a role emerges in tandem with news practices that leads to decontextualizing local events, people and stories to fit the consumption patterns of market economy, a colonial practice resurging in contemporary capitalism. |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | xvii, 221 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781839981371 1839981377 |