The Hero Correspondent and the Hidden Fixer

Abstract

This chapter focuses a decolonizing lens on the hero stereotype of foreign correspondence and how this helps to undervalue local journalists and their knowledge. It analyzes the way in which the neocolonial social relations of Aid/Peacelands intersect with the reporting frames inherited from the colonial library to reinforce the continuance of problematic practices. Picking up the recent critical literature examining the relationship between foreign correspondent and fixer, and the overall context of the growing danger in crisis zones, an argument is made that, contrary to common practice, discussion of foreign correspondent danger in borderlands should, in most cases, be avoided, as this frame can obscure the complex reality faced by locals.