In the Hong Kong context, a foreign reporter would fly in, and then their local colleague (I refuse to use the term fixer) would show them to a protest, serve as translator, set up interviews, in return for a modest payment and no byline.
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The level of ignorance by such parachute journalists can be stunning. Often it's the local partner's job to provide a full briefing on the history, context, and politics of the region, as well as suggest story ideas. It's particularly unsettling when it happens during a tragedy.
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In Sri Lanka after the March bombing, for example, large numbers of foreign correspondents came in demanding local partners during a time of intense trauma. Remember when you read international big-name journalism that it is a fundamentally extractive industry.
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I understand in some cases that there are security concerns, or other sound reasons to keep local reporters' names out of the international press. In Hong Kong, mostly I saw the best local journalists being shut out in favor of trite, superficial coverage by celebrity names
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(My apologies, I said March Sri Lanka bombings upthread, but of course they took place on 21 April. My pre-coffee brain had them filed under 'Easter', which for some reason it refuses to accept is a mobile holiday and files under 'March').
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IIRC the wire services like AP & Reuters used to call those local reporters “stringers”.
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A fixer. For when your white person is broken
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I personally prefer "news Sherpa"
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Same thing happened with Western coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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