conflict & communication online, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2019
www.cco.regener-online.de
ISSN 1618-0747

 

 

 

Altaf Khan
Fixers in corporate media: Pashtun journalists under threat in North Western Pakistan

Local fixers are becoming increasingly important for international media due to escalating security threats to international journalists, budget cuts within international media organizations, and the disappearance of long-stay correspondents. Local fixers give local color and context to news stories, but their work in conflict regions is extremely dangerous. Making things worse, fixers are at the bottom of the international correspondence totem pole. This paper approaches the situation from the perspective of fixers using qualitative in-depth interviews made in northwestern Pakistan, whereby we see fixers’ problems in a wider context of post-colonial relationships. The role of Western international journalists is discussed within a cultural context of hegemony, primarily drawing on theories of Edward Said and Antonio Gramsci.



 

  englischer Volltext  
 

The author:
Dr. Altaf Ullah Khan is Professor of Mass Communication at Forman Christian College University in Lahore, Pakistan. Dr. Khan has a PhD from the Institute of KMW, University of Leipzig, Germany (2004). He has taught development communication, media system in Pakistan, media ethics and laws, issues in communication, peace journalism, and trauma and journalists at the department of JMC. Dr. Altaf Ullah Khan worked as Director Independent Project Reporting (IPR) a joint venture of GIZ, Government of Pakistan, and UoP, IPR. (http://www.iprjmc.org.pk) and was the coordinator of Competence and Trauma Centre for Journalists (CTCJ) at Peshawar University.
Address: Forman Christian College, University in Lahore. Ferozpur Road, Lahore 54600, Pakistan.
eMail: altafkhan@gmail.com