Global Journalism Practices and Foreign Correspondence
Summary
Global journalism practices and foreign correspondence constitute a dynamic field at the intersection of technology, geopolitics and professional norms. Foreign correspondents and their local partners navigate complex terrains shaped by digital tools, ethical imperatives and shifting power relations. The rise of mobile reporting and open-source intelligence has reconfigured workflows, enabling real-time verification but also blurring boundaries between traditional newsrooms and citizen media. Concurrently, the reliance on local fixers and intermediaries uncovers persistent postcolonial hierarchies as well as new forms of epistemic collaboration. Ethical considerations around impartiality, emotional engagement and press freedom have emerged as central themes, prompting scholars to reassess notions of neutrality. This expansion has global significance, influencing how crises are covered, how audiences engage with foreign affairs and how news organisations govern their overseas operations.
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Global Journalism Practices and Foreign Correspondence publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in global journalism practices and foreign correspondence across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Affective epistemology: A framework that considers emotions as a form of knowledge guiding journalistic inquiry and verification in digital and conflict reporting.
Fixer: A local collaborator who provides logistical support, translation and access to sources for foreign correspondents in unfamiliar or restricted environments.
Epistemic injustice: The unfair marginalisation of certain actors’ knowledge or credibility within news production due to identity, proximity or power imbalances.
Affective proximity: The emotional and experiential closeness of a journalist to the events they cover, influencing perspective and representation.
References
- The Affective Epistemology of Digital Journalism: Emotions as Knowledge Among On-the-Ground and OSINT Media Practitioners Covering the Russo-Ukrainian War. Digital Journalism (2023).
- Decolonizing Conflict Journalism Studies: A Critical Review of Research on Fixers. Journalism Studies (2022).
- The epistemic injustice in conflict reporting: Reporters and ‘fixers’ covering Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine. Journalism (2023).
- ‘Forced to report’: Affective proximity and the perils of local reporting on Syria. Journalism (2021).
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