Practical frameworks for more equitable collaborations
With declining newsroom budgets, outlets are reevaluating approaches to international coverage. Journalism scholars have also been paying more critical attention to the role of “fixers,” a commonly-used term for media workers hired to assist visiting foreign correspondents, typically in the Global South. Based on a decade of frontline foreign reporting experience and a review of emerging scholarship, this research note offers practical approaches for organizing international reporting collaborations. Ideally, these would involve formal partnerships between a visiting correspondent and local journalist with shared bylines. When this is not possible, foreign correspondents could consider prioritizing collaborations with non-journalists to avoid extractive reporting and source duplication, ensuring visiting journalists, local collaborators and audiences are getting their desired outcomes.
Read the full article in the Fall 2025 issue of Facts and Frictions
Facts and Frictions is published by J-Schools Canada, Canada’s national association for post-secondary journalism research and education. All content is open access and available via J-Source.