CMN 4100 Lecture 6: CMN 4100 Lecture 6
15 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Week 4: When War is your Country
September 26th, 2018
Relationship between international journalists and the local journalists that help them. What are
the responsibilities of the international journalists?
Journalism as activism. Differing risks for local journalists in conflict zones, lack of protection,
exposure of family, impact on reporting, relationship with writing, relationship with government.
The rise of local journalists, provide a rooted knowledge of the conflict zones. Outside
journalists have to pretend they are an expert days after arriving – they rely on local journalists
“fixers”.
Fixers go places that international journalists can’t – who deserves the credit in that case? If the
fixer is going and asking the questions, getting the footage, shouldn’t they also not get the
byline?
International journalists are starting to comprehend that they have a responsibility to their local
fixers. International journalists have insurance through their employer, have kidnap and ransom
insurance – family would be compensated. But fixers do not get compensation if they are killed.
International journalists are not supposed to know how much they’re “worth” based on their
insurance policy.
When does reporting become too much? At what point do the risks taken by local journalists
outweigh the need/desire to get the story? Is the story worth dying for?
Transparency in sources – don’t reveal the sources name but you can say “local researcher”
Partial censorship for national security. Restricting journalists from publishing stories for reasons
of national security and safety. Should journalists withhold information from public at the
request of the government or police/military? But, withholding information can backfire – is
silence doing your job?
Hostility directed toward journalists for revealing military failures. Revealing failures ultimately
benefit the military and the public – rather than staying in the dark. The messenger is always
blamed for bad news – can be an issue of not knowing who to blame. Easier to blame the person
providing the information, because they are aware of the information and can be seen as
accountable – they have a name to go after and a specific individual. Getting information that
you don’t want to hear, that your side is doing poorly.
Guest Speaker: Shakour
Document Summary
Relationship between international journalists and the local journalists that help them. Differing risks for local journalists in conflict zones, lack of protection, exposure of family, impact on reporting, relationship with writing, relationship with government. The rise of local journalists, provide a rooted knowledge of the conflict zones. Outside journalists have to pretend they are an expert days after arriving they rely on local journalists. International journalists are starting to comprehend that they have a responsibility to their local fixers. International journalists have insurance through their employer, have kidnap and ransom insurance family would be compensated. But fixers do not get compensation if they are killed. International journalists are not supposed to know how much they"re worth based on their insurance policy. Transparency in sources don"t reveal the sources name but you can say local researcher . Restricting journalists from publishing stories for reasons of national security and safety. Hostility directed toward journalists for revealing military failures.
