Reporting Global while being Local: Local Producers of News for Distant Audiences

This book challenges the established view of international news production by highlighting the role of insiders who work in their own countries to produce news for international audiences. It explores the economic, socio-cultural, and practice-related tensions that arise in the involvement of local journalists, fixers, and NGOs as sources of news and information in international news production. The book will contribute to a better understanding of local news-work that benefits distant audiences and help cement its place as a vital topic of analysis in its own right.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 25 September 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

International news has long been perceived as being solely produced by foreign correspondents working in exotic and international locations. However, this book challenges this established notion by placing the spotlight on insiders who work within their own countries and produce news for international audiences.

For many years, Western male foreign correspondents have been the visible metaphors of international news production, reporting from areas affected by crises and conflicts for their "audiences back home." However, the understanding of who produces international news is gradually evolving as scholars recognize the significant role played by locally based, non-Western news-workers who have always been integral to the global flow of news.

As the revenue of the news industry declines, foreign news bureaus have experienced reductions in non-local staff, leading to an increased reliance on local journalists and fixers, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as sources of news and information in international news production.

Available research indicates that the involvement of local journalists and fixers, as well as NGOs, in international news production is characterized by economic, socio-cultural, and practice-related tensions. This book aims to shed light on these evolving yet relatively less investigated changes in international news-making by bringing together the latest studies conducted on this form of journalistic labor across the world.

By examining the roles and responsibilities of these local professionals within the global flow of news, this book will contribute to both the breadth and depth of our future understanding of local news-work that benefits distant audiences. It will also help solidify the place of such journalistic work as a vital topic of analysis in its own right.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of "Journalism Studies."

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 246 x 174 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367758769