Fixers and foreign correspondents : news production and autonomy

The television foreign correspondent's licence to roam and generate news is increasingly under threat. This paper concentrates on the micro production processes of today s correspondent as he or she goes about the job of newsgathering 'on the road', and considers the changing nature of the correspondent's autonomy. It inserts the missing character in foreign newsgathering - the locally hired fixer - and explores how this person affects the correspondent's autonomy. An analysis of interviews with 20 foreign correspondents and five fixers leads to the conclusion that the foreign correspondent is rarely the sole editorial figure on the road but is instead the main actor representing the creative interplay of a succession of fixers or 'local producers'. This deconstruction of the ways in which a correspondent builds an ad-hoc newsgathering team each time he or she lands in d new place allows for a deeper understanding of the modus operandi of reporters.

Foreign correspondents and fixers: an investigation of teamwork in international television newsgathering

This thesis considers the relationship between television foreign correspondents and their locally-hired 'fixers' in order to ascertain the centrality and significance of this relationship in facilitating international news production. The design of this research project, with its emphasis on news production practice, was guided by scholars in the sociology of news tradition, such as Jeremy Tunstall, Michael Schudson, Stephen Reese, Pamela Shoemaker and Simon Cottle. The main research question asks to what extent, and how, is the relationship between the correspondent and the fixer important to newsgathering? Drawing on the theories of Pierre Bourdieu concerning the journalistic field and the acquisition of cultural capital, this research demonstrates how fixers possess vital stores of capital which foreign correspondents borrow in order to be successful in the field. This thesis explores in depth how the players work in tandem to overcome the difficulties posed by multi-skilling, parachuting, instant live reporting, and the 24-hour news cycle. Current newsgathering practice in Iraq is investigated as a case study, which reveals the difficulties of reporting from this dateline and reflects on how the level of danger has changed the nature of the correspondent-fixer relationship. Within this relationship, where a correspondent has the ultimate power to hire and fire, a fixer nonetheless brings significant influence to bear on story generation and story coverage. But does this influence bring into the Western news agenda stories that genuinely reflect localised, indigenous viewpoints? Or, in this globalised world, are fixers simply 'People Like Us' (PLU), who have absorbed Western news values and will reinforce them through the stories that they propose? In other words, are correspondents likely to gain an insight into localised communities and their problems that they might not otherwise have understood, or will they have their own views and presumptions reflected back at them? This thesis examines what the use of fixers reveals about the political economy of news and the changing context of international news production. It asks whether the growing importance of fixers in newsgathering reflects a move by media companies to eventually outsource international newsgathering to local employees. This thesis employs a qualitative methodological approach involving semi-structured interviews with foreign correspondents and fixers to explore their modus operandi and to investigate the building of overseas news teams.

'Fixers, the people behind the foreign correspondents'

They do the leg work for foreign correspondents who arrive in a new place and have to get on top of a story quickly, but rarely receive public acknowledgement for their work. Fixers can shape who you speak to and what angle you take on a story, as well as the logistics of making it all happen.

Foreign correspondents and international newsgathering: the role of fixers

This book reveals that ‘fixers’—local experts on whom foreign correspondents rely—play a much more significant role in international television newsgathering than has been documented or understood. Murrell explores the frames though which international reporting has traditionally been analysed and then shows that fixers, who have largely been dismissed by scholars as "logistical aides", are in fact central to the day-to-day decision-making that takes place on-the-road. Murrell looks at why and how fixers are selected and what their significance is to foreign correspondence. She asks if fixers help introduce a local perspective into the international news agenda, or if fixers are simply ‘People Like Us’ (PLU). Also included are excerpts from interviews with TV correspondents and fixers and in-depth case studies of correspondents in Iraq and Indonesia.

Baghdad bureaux : an exploration of the interconnected world of fixers and correspondents at the BBC and CNN

Post-war Iraq is so dangerous that Western television correspondents have been forced to change their modus operandi and rely more heavily on locally-hired fixers. This article asks if the virtual absence of overseas reporters from Iraq’s streets has led to a less authentic news gathering role. Conversely, it may have delivered a more nuanced form of editorial and logistical task-sharing. This research draws on interviews conducted in 2007 and 2008 with twenty foreign correspondents, two senior news managers and five fixers. It employs Bourdieu’s analysis of cultural capital as a framework to examine the exchange of different forms of power and expertise between the players. Where trust is now at the forefront of this news gathering relationship, this research deconstructs the methods by which fixers are recruited and deployed. A comparison is made between the news production techniques of foreign correspondents who employ fixers for short-term purposes and correspondents from the Baghdad bureaux of the BBC and CNN.

Foreign correspondence and fixers : the missing link

Colleen Murrell gives a talk for the Reuters Institute seminar series.

ABC news 24: a study of limited resources and challenging newsgathering

This was a refereed abstract for an international conference. The paper analyses the content of the 24 hour news cycle of the ABC News 24 station.

The Vulture Club: international newsgathering via Facebook

Facebook is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2014. Like its social media cousin, Twitter, Facebook has transformed how journalists gather and disseminate international news. On Facebook, freelance journalists work together in open and closed communities to share information about news production in the latest crisis news datelines. One such community is the Vulture Club. This 'secret' site is being used to garner resources that previously were available only to mainstream staff correspondents. The majority of the posts on this site seek advice on good fixers, visas, safety gear, hotels and contacts. This article uses content analysis to examine posts on the VC site. It concentrates in particular on requests by freelance journalists for help with finding fixers in different countries. The study compares this model to a previous research study on staff correspondents and fixers. The findings are theorised by employing the work of Pierre Bourdieu on the acquisition of social and cultural capital. 

Tax incentives for foreign direct investment part II : Design considerations

Part I of this article concluded that tax incentives for foreign direct investment (FDI) have become increasingly common over the past 10 years or so, especially among developing countries, and that there is substantial evidence to support the proposition that tax considerations now play an important role in many investment decisions. Countries seeking to attract FDI often feel compelled to offer tax inducements that are at least as attractive as those offered by their neighbours or competitors. Countries do so at a cost, however, and that cost may be substantial. Governments are thus placed in a dilemma - can they afford to cut taxes in order to attract investment, and can they afford not to? The second part of this article assumes that countries, and especially most developing countries, will continue to feel obliged to provide tax incentives. The aim of this part therefore is to examine ways in which those incentives can be made more effective and more efficient, thereby reducing their cost to the host country.

Tax incentives for foreign direct investment part I : Recent trends and countertrends

According to the conventional wisdom, tax incentives for investment - in particular for foreign direct investment (FDI) - are not recommended. That is the view held almost universally by theorists and by the international bodies that advise on tax matters.' Tax incentives are bad in theory and bad in practice. They are bad in theory principally because they cause distortions: investment decisions are made that would not have been made without the inducement of special tax concessions. They are bad in practice, being both ineffective and inefficient. They are ineffective in that tax considerations are only rarely a major determinant in FDI decisions; they are inefficient because their cost, in terms of tax revenue foregone, often far exceeds any benefits they may produce. Other criticisms are also frequently levelled against tax incentives for FDI - they are inequitable (since they benefit some investors but not others), they are difficult to administer and open to abuse, and they lack transparency. Thus, it is not surprising that ''the standard advice given by institutions like the World Bank and the lMF to developing countries is to refrain from offering tax incentives to foreign investors".2 The purpose of this article is not to question that advice or to challenge the conventional wisdom - except in one respect. Recent evidence does suggest that tax considerations are an increasingly important factor in investment decisions and that special tax incentives have become substantially more effective as instruments for attracting FDI than they were 10 or 20 years ago.3 The first part of this article, published here, examines some of that evidence, reviews some recent trends in national policies towards FDI, attempts to suggest why investment incentives have become more important and more effective, and looks at the pressures that are exerted on governments, especially in developing countries, to compete for FDI by offering special incentives. The second part of the article, to be published in the Bulletin next month, assumes that many countries will continue to offer tax incentives to investors regardless of the best advice, and considers how incentives might be designed in order to increase their effectiveness and efficiency.

Exports, Inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Regional Economic Growth in China

The relationship between exports and economic growth is strong in developing economies. Both externality effects of exports on the non-exports sector and higher marginal productivity in the exports sector in relation to the non-exports sector play an important role in promoting exports and GDP growth. The underlying theoretical model of FEDER, 1982, is used with the data on the Chinese provinces and it is shown that the economic structure, degree of openness and policy environment have a significant role in the relationship between exports and economic growth.

Foreign Direct Investment and Regional Export Performance in China

This paper investigates the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the export performance of China at the provincial level. First, it presents a theoretical discussion of the impact of FDI on foreign trade, and then an empirical study of the impact of FDI on the export performance of regions in Chin. It has been found that the impact of FDI on exports differs across three macro-regions in China. The effect is stronger in the coastal region than in the inland regions. Although FDI shows a positive and significant impact on exports from the central region, its impact on the western region is found to be insignificant.