Power Deficit in a Cosmopolitan Newsroom -
Togolese Journalists in the Transnational Journalistic Field
Master’s Thesis
Authored by Juliette Freysson (student nr: 12846880) Supervised by Damian Trilling
Date of Completion: 29/05/2020 Word Count: 7,993
University of Amsterdam, Graduate School of Communication Erasmus Mundus Master’s Joint Degree
Abstract
The Third World has long reproached Western countries for having created, maintained and expanded systems of domination through modern communication media. Historically, the ownership, structure, distribution and content of the media have favored the Western World. Yet due to technological and economic reasons, the foreign news industry has seen significant structural changes with the near demise of foreign correspondents and the increasing use of locally hired journalists. By studying the production of international news reports rather than simply the final product, this study explores how local journalists perceive and negotiate the pressure of international media organizations to which they contribute. Using six in-depth interviews with Togolese journalists who have collaborated with transnational media outlets, the paper demonstrates the diversity of roles local journalists play in the production of international news reports. Despite their essential contribution, the local perspective is rarely recognized in publication nor in discussions of journalism. Enriching Bourdieu’s field theory with the concept of media imperialism, the study also describes the discriminatory framework in compensation and status perceived by the local journalists. It concludes that although Westerners continue to dominate the international reporting field, the organizational culture of media organizations is evolving. This article reevaluates field theory as well as the concept of media imperialism and provides some considerations on local journalists’ contribution to international media organizations.
Introduction
Western and international media organizations have long been criticized for portraying Africa as a dark and conflict-ridden continent often using dehumanizing stereotypes, racist discourse and colonial ideas (Brookes, 1995; Fair, 1992; Franks, 2005; Hawk, 1992; Ogundimu & Fair, 1997). This biased framing resonates with Edward Said’s concept of “orientalism” (1978) which defines the West’s patronizing representations of “The East” – the societies who inhabit Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. According to Said, orientalism is inextricably tied to the imperialist societies who produced the news. Similarly, international reports about Africa have traditionally been produced by white foreign correspondents, writing for a distant western audience (Silberstein-Loeb, 2014). However, with massive shutdowns of foreign bureaus in recent years, local foreign reporters have become more substantial actors in international media companies (Hamilton & Jenner, 2004; Wu & Hamilton, 2004), which has had a rather positive impact on the quality of foreign reporting (Mitra, 2017; Pedelty, 1995; Seo, 2016). Yet research on local foreign journalists is still a relatively marginal topic in the literature on foreign news reporting.
Although local journalists have been offered new opportunities with the increased collaboration with international media organizations, studies have revealed that they often occupy tenuous positions (Bishara, 2006; Bunce, 2010; Mitra, 2019; Moon, 2019) and their contributions are rarely valued at their true worth (Bunce, 2010; Hannerz, 2004). This research paper postulates that Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory (1989) is a useful framework in which to situate the imbalance in power relations between local journalists and international newsrooms. This theory posits that players in the journalism field can achieve power status by mastering the rules of the game and accumulating personal and social capital. As an example, Western foreign correspondents working for high profile transnational media outlets are powerful people
within their fields (Murrel, 2010) which grant them a certain autonomy derived from working for a reputable organization - job security, a good salary and reputation, and protection from needing to write “potboilers and the like” (Bourdieu, 1998, p. 69). Local journalists, on the other hand, have some “embodied capital” in the form of their valued skills in translation and local contacts (Murrel, 2010). Benson and Neveu (2005) contextualize on a larger scale Bourdieu’s field theory and presume that the interactions between transformative and conservative forces in news production is directly linked to the broader interest of social classes, national society and the international order. Pushing this idea further, the study aims at exploring the connection between field theory and the concept of media imperialism by engaging local non-Western journalists in the discussion around their position in the transnational journalistic field. Scholars who have studied the concept of media imperialism have similarly concluded that the ownership, structure, distribution and content of the media have favored the Western World creating systems of domination through modern communication media (Boyd-Barret, 2015; Fejes, 1981, Galtung, 1979, Meyer, 1988). Media imperialism theory can explain the struggle between “winners” and “losers” in the news production system. The international journalistic practices were shaped by and for Western journalists and media organizations. Therefore, non-Western local journalists are pressured to meet the requirements of transnational media corporations while behaving within the local field’s standards.
Therefore this research explores: how do African local foreign reporters perceive and negotiate the pressures of international news organizations they contribute to? (RQ). Using six in-depth interviews with Togolese journalists and an additional small-scale analysis of their roles in the coverage of the 2020 Togolese presidential elections in four international media outlets, AJ+, BBC News World, Deutsche Welle and France 24, the study aims to gain extensive understanding of local journalists’ perception of their collaboration with international
media organizations and how they deal with the pressure of adapting to transnational journalistic practices. It invites us to foster further Bourdieu’s field theory and explore its link to media imperialism at the organizational level of international news outlets. It is argued that by restricting African local journalists to subordinate positions, a system of domination is maintained. Local journalists’ perception of this unbalanced ratio of power and perpetual pressure over their work is also a symptom of the suitability of the concept of media imperialism to investigate the hierarchical structure of international news organizations.
Theoretical Framework
From national to transnational foreign news reportingIn order to explore the roles assigned to local foreign journalists when collaborating with international media outlets, we first need to grasp the functioning of the foreign reporting industry. International news reports used to be the exclusive domain of Western foreign correspondents hired by a Western media organization and writing for a national audience. Yet, alongside media globalization processes, the structure of the media industry has evolved (Sparks, 2007). With the advent of new communication technologies and the “globalized virtual world”, transnational and international media have risen (Dimitrakopoulou, 2015). Some of the most renowned of these organizations are Deutsche Welle (DW) created in 1953, BBC News world in 1995, Al Jazeera English in 1996 and France 24 in 2005. The differentiation between local, national and transnational/international media is essentially geographical as well as content- and context-related (Dimitrakopoulou, 2015). While local media cover events that fall within a local context and are relevant to a locally defined audience, national media operate within the boundaries of a specific nation-state and report on news that is of interest to a territorially defined public. Though they address a larger audience and promote international
news, western national media still rely mainly on foreign correspondents. On the other hand, the international media can rely on a more diverse team of journalists than national media because they are detached from national cultures and societies (Bardoel & Deuze, 2001) and target a variety of foreign audiences (Hamilton & Jenner, 2004; Morley & Robin, 1995). Compared to news produced for local or national audiences, foreign news in international media often rely on different frames and news values to make the content accessible and meaningful for audiences from different backgrounds (Atad, 2017).
The dominant image of foreign correspondents has long been a Western independent and daring journalist reporting from exotic places and delivering news back home (Seo, 2016). In the New Global Journalism: Foreign Correspondence in Transition (Cooper & Owen, 2014), a report from Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism, the authors explore three central changes in foreign reporting. First, digital technologies enable citizens to tell their stories directly, without the need for journalist intermediaries. Secondly, journalists have the ability to report on events without physically being there by using online content. Finally, the financial pressures that digital technology have brought to legacy media have forced many to close their international bureaus. Between 1998 and 2011, at least 20 US newspapers and other media outlets eliminated all their foreign bureaus (Enda, 2011). Elsewhere, the number and size of those bureaus have shrunk dramatically. Due to economic reasons, mass media outlets have been relying more heavily on international news agencies (Seo, 2016) but have also systematically downsized the number of foreign correspondents and increased the use of locally hired journalists (Hamilton & Jenner, 2004; Wu & Hamilton, 2004). For instance, the proportion of US nationals working as foreign correspondents for U.S. outlets dropped significantly from 63% in the 1990s (Kliesch, 1991) to 31% in 2001 (Wu & Hamilton, 2004). Local journalists are often a cheaper option for the news agencies and media outlets because they come from low-cost countries and, therefore, require less pay than Western journalists
(Wu & Hamilton, 2004). From the news organization’s perspective employing local journalists is therefore a profitable business decision. Wu and Hamilton (2004) observed that US national foreign correspondents earned twice as much as a local journalist for the same job at the time. Local journalists are also able to save time and effort by cultivating networks of local sources, knowing local customs and politics, and contextualizing events (Hamilton, 2010). Furthermore, some conflict zones are now considered to be too dangerous for Western journalists to work in and, therefore, local journalists are a necessity in order to do much of the foreign correspondence from these places (Murrel, 2010; Palmer & Fontan, 2007).
Local hands’ crucial yet undervalued role(s)
In the following section I will focus on the preexisting literature around local journalists’ contribution to international news which draw two main conclusions: on the one hand the benefits of hiring local journalists; on the other hand, their limited power and visibility. Although they have become an even more substantial presence in foreign news reporting, academic research about the “marginal majority” (Seo, 2016) has been hard to come by. The anthropologist Pedelty (1995) has been among the first researchers to fill this gap by studying foreign correspondents in El Salvador in the early 1990s. He found that locally-hired journalists who possessed fewer resources and less prestige wrote more in-depth and contextualized stories than their American colleagues. Almost twenty years later, Mitra (2017) explained how photojournalists in Afghanistan transmitted a less stereotypical portrait of their country than Western colleagues. A cross-national study by Seo (2016) on foreign correspondents from the news agency Associated Press observed that local journalists had the potential to provide “a more in-depth reporting” and thus “stories that make a complex world more understandable” (p.48). Yet other studies are more critical towards the work of local (non-western) foreign reporters. Bunce (2011) found that local journalists in Sudan were less independent in their
reporting, put less emphasis on watchdog journalism, tended to favor the government and did not express a strong sense of professional identity. He nuances his findings acknowledging that non-Western journalists could adopt Western journalistic norms if they work in a newsroom with other Western journalists. But in practice he observed that local staffs were doing most of the “shoe-leather reporting”, while Western bureau chiefs based in Johannesburg or Nairobi were mostly desk-bound.
Studies on the role of local journalists in international news reporting have revealed that they have little power in the organizations (Bishara, 2006; Bunce, 2010; Mitra, 2019) and that their contributions have rarely been recognized at their true worth (Bunce, 2010; Hannerz, 2004). Seo (2016) observed that local perspectives only occasionally made their way into Associated Press stories. Fixers also remain relatively unknown outside the media circles (Murrel, 2010). The media ethnographer, Ulf Hannerz (2000) explains that the “critical importance of local helpers in foreign news tends not to be acknowledged” (p. 154). Yet he does not go on to explore himself the work of fixers and how it can be considered as so critically important. The same disappointment is present in Erickson and Hamilton’s research on “parachute journalists” (2006). Although they emphasize the importance of fixers, they do not describe in any detail how they assist the correspondents. Palmer and Fontan (2007) gave the first critical contribution to literature on fixers. They examined fixers’ translation work for parachute foreign correspondents during the 2003 Iraq war and listed the myriad tasks they routinely handle including arranging interviews, background and security briefing, basic reporting, local contacts with colleagues. Most studies on local journalists have highlighted their crucial roles in international news-making but also the lack of acknowledgement of their work. The first sub-research question interrogates these findings in the context of Togolese journalists working with international media outlets: What roles are local non-Western journalists assigned to in the international news-making process? (SRQ1).
Power struggles in the transnational journalistic field
The second aspect of the study focuses on the ratio of power and the pressure over local non-Western journalists to adapt to international media organizations’ practices. While Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory (1989) is a useful framework in which to situate contests of power between players and was previously used by Murrel (2010) and Moon (2019) to investigate local journalists’ contribution to international news organizations, this study makes headway by encompassing field theory and the concept of media imperialism. First, field theory posits that through a high mastery of the rules of the game and an accumulation of personal and social capital, players in the field can achieve success. The field is a metaphor for a space where you can identify “institutions, agents, discourses, practices, values and so on’ (Webb, Schirato & Danaher, 2002, p. 86) or as “arenas of struggle in which individuals and organizations compete unconsciously and consciously, to valorise those forms of capital which they possess” (Benson & Neveu, 2005, p. 4). In particular, the journalistic field deals with “agents who possess high volumes of capital” (Benson & Neveu, 2005, p. 5). As social agents, journalists can accrue different resources based on their positions in the occupational field (Bourdieu, 2011). Western foreign correspondents working for high profile international media outlets are powerful people within their fields (Murrel, 2010) which grant them a certain autonomy derived from working for a reputable organization, job security, a good salary and reputation, and protection from needing to write “potboiler and the like” (Bourdieu, 1998, p. 69). Local journalists have some “embodied capital” in the form of their valued skills in translation and local contacts (Murrel, 2010). Foreign reporting can be seen by local reporters as an opportunity to enter the transnational journalistic field in which they own little capital (Moon, 2019). By doing so, they occupy a bridging position, navigating multiple fields of practice: they are required to behave within the local field’s standards, while producing news content that meets the requirements of a transnational media organization (Hellmueller, 2017). The doxa and rules from different fields
of journalism intersect and might sometimes cause misunderstandings or even conflicting states for local journalists. According to Palmer (2018), local-foreign correspondents face greater scrutiny working for domestic outlets, and their labor and safety are likely to be undervalued by the international media.
The level and kinds of capital a person possesses relative to others in the field determine the agent’s placement in the field and thus the kind of forces that act upon that agent and the behaviors the agent can undertake (Benson & Neveu, 2005). Therefore, field theory also accounts for stasis and change within journalism and the struggle between “winners” and “losers”. Furthermore, the journalism field is related to other fields of power such as the economic and political fields and therefore is not isolated from their influence (Benson & Neveu, 2005). Indeed, the interactions between transformative and conservative forces in news production are directly linked to broader interests in the international order. In that sense, the lack of recognition and the restriction of non-western local journalists to subordinate positions, can be analyzed as a form of media imperialism (Boyd-Barrett, 2015; Fejes, 1981; Galtung, 1979; Meyer, 1988) at the organizational level. The concept of media imperialism traditionally refers to “all processes by which modern communication media have operated to create, maintain and expand systems of domination and dependence on a world scale” (Fejes, 1981, p.281). While never disappearing from the research literature, it has been criticized for being over-simplistic or out of date (Straubhaar, 1991). Yet other academics like Boyd-Barrett (2015) explain that “this field of study is sustainable, has evolved, and has never been more relevant than in the current, so-called digital age” (p.8). Indeed, unequal relations of power persist in the ownership, structure, distribution and production of the modern media industry. The imbalance in the volume of capital between non-Western and Western journalists (Moon, 2019; Murrel, 2010) but also, the “feudal interaction structure” of the international system of communication (Harris, 1981) seem to impose a factual and perceived domination on local journalists which is
the object of this study. The presumed connection between Bourdieu field theory and the concept of media imperialism has never been studied which is the raison d’être of this research paper. Therefore, the second sub-research question is: How do Togolese journalists interpret and negotiate with the hierarchical structure of international media organizations to perform their role? (SRQ2).
Methodology
DesignTo study local journalists’ contribution to (SRQ1) and perception of (SRQ2) international media organizations, I interviewed Togolese journalists. As Togo is not considered a strategic country for news organizations, there is no permanent western foreign correspondent which means that media outlets need to either send “parachute journalists” or rely on local sources to collect and provide information. Furthermore, having been colonized by Germany and France which remain present in the country through political, social and humanitarian actions, Togo is a pertinent location to test the relevance of the concept of “media imperialism”. Even though the case study limits the generalizability of the research findings, it substantiates and enriches the existing literature on local journalists’ participation in international news making.
The primary method of this qualitative research is interviews, an effective method to study understandings and perceptions when the participants have a personal stake in the topic (Braun & Clarke, 2013). It is ideal for understanding personal experiences and reflecting on the meaning of key concepts, in my case “media imperialism”. Furthermore, patterns between individual experiences can appear after conducting several interviews while preserving the singularity of each testimony. I conducted semi-structured unstandardized interviews meaning
that questions were prepared but the answers not determined, and I was able to shift the focus of subsequent interviews on the basis of what prior interviews had led me to believe was significant. This enabled me to maintain high levels of reliability and to deepen the validity of each individual interview (David & Sutton, 2011). As I am testing the concept of “media imperialism” which has been questioned and criticized (Tomlinson, 1991; Sparks, 2012; Straubhaar, 1991), I was particularly careful in the neutral phrasing of my questions and the interpretation of the data. To prevent any bias, I implemented an “inverted triangle” approach in the interview guide by first asking questions about news routines and practices to understand their role in the collaboration and slowly getting to questions about power relations. The concept of media imperialism was translated into questions focusing on journalists’ perception of the ratio of power in international newsrooms (how would you qualify your relationship with colleagues/editors in the newsroom? How did you feel about the collaboration? How were you treated by the company?). The full interview guide is included in Appendix 2.
Despite the advantages of conducting interviews, researchers have pointed out several limitations on the use of verbal accounts to draw conclusions, stressing the need to triangulate data with other methods whenever possible (Jerolmack & Khan, 2014). Increasingly, triangulation is used to cross-check findings deriving from both quantitative and qualitative research (Deacon, Bryman, & Fenton, 1998). Therefore, I conducted a small-scale quantitative content analysis of Togolese journalists’ roles in the news coverage of the 2020 presidential elections (22nd February) published on the websites of four international media organizations: BBC News World, France 24, Deutsche Welle and Al Jazeera. These global media outlets were chosen because they originate from four different countries: two of them colonized Togo (France and Germany) while the United Kingdom (BBC) and Qatar (Al Jazeera) don’t share significant historic ties. Furthermore, Al Jazeera does not come from the Western World which might affect how African journalists perceive it. This supplementary method enabled me to
seize the reality of how Togolese journalists contribute to the production of news published on international media organizations’ websites. I analyzed 63 news items comprising 16 articles, 27 radio shows and 20 TV reports published online between September 12th, 2019 and March 3rd, 2020.
Participants
In March-April 2020, I conducted six interviews with Togolese journalists who have experienced work relations with international media outlets. The sample was purposive, with the aim of generating ‘insight and in-depth understanding’ (Patton, 2002, p. 230). It involved selecting participants on the basis that they would be able to provide information-rich data to analyze. To build the sample, I implemented two sampling strategies. First the convenience sampling refers to a sample selected because it is accessible to the researcher (Patton, 2002). As I have worked in Togo, I have a network of journalists that not only participated in my study but also helped me with the second sampling strategy which is snowballing or friendship pyramiding. The most common form of snowballing is when the researcher asks participants if they know anyone else who might want to take part (Patton, 2002). Using these two methods I ended up with a list of 15 journalists who I contacted via emails, phone calls and social media. Three journalists did not respond; five others were, at first, willing to participate, but then got carried away by the pandemic and did not feel like partaking in the study anymore or stopped replying. The aim was to sample for diversity of perspectives which allowed me to reach maximum variation or maximum heterogeneity (Fassinger, 2005) with a wide range of experiences represented in the interviews. Out of the six participants, two are women and four men; three are freelancers, two are permanent correspondents and one changed from having a salary position to a freelancer contract; finally, positive, mixed and negative experiences with different international media organizations were represented. As part of the ethical guidelines
followed in this study, the participants’ names and employing organizations are confidential. The interviewees are referred to by a randomly selected name. More information about the respondents (with identifiable information removed) can be found in Appendix 1.
Data collection
I went to Lomé, capital of Togo, for a couple of weeks (16th March – 06th April 2020) to conduct the interviews. However, the Covid-19 pandemic cut short my stay and did not allow me to conduct face-to-face interviews which is effective to gain deeper insight and comprehensive understanding but also to detect social cues, body language and facial expressions (David & Sutton, 2012). To preserve some advantages of discussing face-to-face, I conducted Skype interviews whenever I could and for journalists who did not have good internet connection, we did the interview through phone calls. The participants were asked to fill in an informed consent form prior to the interviews and were apprized of their right to withdraw from the study at any time. I recorded the discussions with two devices to prevent any technical issues. At the end of each, the participants were given the opportunity to ask questions or add comments. Being a white European researcher, I might be seen as having a status with higher social power than African journalists, which could trigger a bias in the relationship with the participants. This is even more complex as I was investigating issues of power relations in international media organizations. Therefore, any interpretation confusion was discussed with the interviewees.
Data analysis
The first sub-question about the role(s) of local journalists in international news production was answered by the content analysis and, during the interviews, by the narration of each participant’s experiences with transnational media outlets. The funneling technique of
the interview guide allowed me to tackle the second research questions about participants’ perception of their position in the hierarchical structure of international news outlets.
Once an interview was done, it was transcribed entirely to keep track of every detail (pauses, hesitations, body language…). Transcripts were then coded using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) which aims to offer insights into how a given person, in a given context, makes sense of a given phenomenon (Smith & Osborn, 2003). This approach combines a close examination of the experience and the meaning-making of the participants. The aim is to draw conclusions from the participants’ attempts to make sense of their own experiences while finding recurring patterns in the interview responses. I conducted a three steps coding process: firstly, I explored the data line-by-line and took notes of codes emerging from it (open coding). To maintain a high internal reliability level, another researcher read the transcripts and we discussed the list of 241 codes. Then I catalogued the codes, connected them and subsequently began to look for patterns called themes (axial coding). Finally, the selective coding aimed at answering the research questions, connecting the findings with existing literature and providing new theoretical insights. Representative data that have emerged from the analysis are in Appendix 3.
Results
Togolese journalists’ role(s) in international news-making
The first sub-research question asked: What roles are local Togolese journalists assigned to in the international news-making process? All Togolese journalists interviewed for this study are predominantly hired by international media as stringers – temporary staff - or permanent correspondents sending finished news products to the editorial board based in foreign countries. Nonetheless, some of them practiced additional functions. Three (Martin,
Charles and Edgar) happened to be appointed fixers at times, expediting the work for foreign journalists coming to Togo to cover important events. Charles is also often interviewed and invited to participate in TV debates broadcast on international media channels. Finally, Nicolas and Martin have both been nominated editors-in-chief of international media outlets. Therefore, they have also been responsible for supervising a team of journalists.
The diversity of roles attributed to Togolese journalists was less visible in the content analysis of the media coverage of the Togolese presidential elections. It was found that 29 out of the 63 news contents examined were attributed to four different Togolese journalists. Out of the 49 news items published on the DW website, 28 were produced by Togolese journalists, the rest by parachute journalists or desk-bound journalists in DW headquarters in Bonn, Germany. For Al Jazeera, a Nigerian reporter covered the elections producing 5 video reportages. BBC News World relied on news agencies to write the two articles about the Togolese presidential elections. Finally, France 24 relied primarily on parachute journalists to cover the elections. Only one out of the 6 news items published on France 24 website was attributed to a Togolese journalist.
Figure 1 - Amounts of journalistic items about Togolese presidential elections published on international media organizations’ websites
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
DW France 24 Al Jazeera BBC News world
As regards to DW and France 24’s TV or radio news programs, the host was always a non-Togolese journalist working at the international media headquarters in Europe and introducing the report executed by either a local journalist or a foreign correspondent. In total, 24 photos taken by Togolese journalists or photojournalists were credited. The contribution of fixers was never acknowledged in any of the news content executed by foreign correspondents. Regarding sources, only one Togolese journalist was clearly cited as a source in an Al Jazeera article and a video report. Sources and experts used in journalistic content were predominantly Togolese politicians, members of civil society organizations or religious figures.
Based on the interviews, it can be said that most Togolese reporters define themselves as “multimedia journalists”. They not only work on their own to produce news material, but they are used to performing their profession through different formats. They can write articles, record and edit audios, shoot photos or videos. During the coverage of the Togolese presidential election, the majority (17 out of 27) of radio items were produced by local journalists whereas 13 out of 16 articles and 11 out of 20 TV reportages were written or shot by non-Togolese journalists. Through the interviews, it was also found that international media entrusted Togolese journalists with radio way more than with video reports. This can be explained by the fact, that most local journalists (5 out of 6) started their careers as radio journalists. Yet even Aimée, who is an experienced TV journalist for Togo’s national channel, before being recruited by an international newsroom, does not produce video reports. When asked about the future of this collaboration, she hopes she will have the opportunity to produce TV reportages as well.
General evaluation of the collaboration
The second sub-research question asked: How do Togolese journalists interpret and negotiate with the hierarchical structure of international media organizations to perform their
role? Overall, Togolese journalists share a rather positive view of their collaboration with international media outlets. Yet they face some pressure and discriminations - which will be detailed in the following section - related to their position in the hierarchical structure of transnational news outlets. The six participants in this study evaluated positively their collaboration with international media outlets. They all shared the feeling that their work was acknowledged by newsrooms and that their employers were pleased. Nicolas was particularly appreciative of the partnership he developed with the international news outlet he has been working: “I am fully satisfied by the collaboration. I mean… I really feel at ease with the newsroom and the publication manager does not hesitate to congratulate me for my work”. Similarly, Karen pointed out that colleagues often tell her that she is “one of the best reporters in the field” which makes her feel proud and gratified. Charles went even further and said that it is a “privilege” to be working for an international media organization. Indeed, he explained that it gives him credibility, responsibility and a higher salary (compared to the national wage in Togo). He also mentioned the fact that the work is more interesting than the daily job he is doing as a national journalist. The topics and the challenge make it more appealing. Likewise, Edgar mentioned how, in the national journalistic arena, collaborating with transnational news corporations increases his approval ratings from the audience but also from political actors and even fellow journalists.
When you are a foreign press correspondent in Togo, you are pampered. That is to say you are systematically invited to events. You have a special place when you have a BBC, Reuters, Jeune Afrique or RFI press card. You are the ‘crème de la crème’. And the fellow Togolese journalists want to be like you. (Edgar)
Howbeit, a couple of frustrations were also recorded through the interviews. Firstly, two journalists mentioned the feeling of being relegated in the international newsroom because
Mali or Congo, where events regularly mobilize the international community. Yet, Karen said she understands the media logic and does not blame the media for following traditional news selection criteria. This reality, though, makes it difficult for both freelancers to rely only on the pay given by the international media. Therefore most local journalists continue to work for national or regional media outlets to complete their remuneration. For Togolese journalists who are staff employees it can also be a burden to come up with original and interesting stories to cover and reach the required quota of articles or radio shows. The second dissatisfaction concerns with the unyielding editorial line of some international media outlets. While understanding the duty to follow specific criteria and standards imposed by the newsroom, some journalists expressed the concern of not being completely free when producing news content.
From an ethical point of view, well… sometimes what has displeased or saddened me is that in some newsrooms, you have the impression that you are being forced to follow the editorial line. Some media have certain ideas that absolutely need to appear in your articles, even though you disagree with those. Well… It’s a bit like an allegiance contract. You agree, good for you. You disagree, you’re out and God knows you have loads of people waiting for you to clear your stuff out. (Edgar)
In practice, this translated into a partial editing of interviews or a prescribed negative tone in journalistic pieces. Charles explained that he often disagreed with the newsrooms on the way they look at Africa. He denounced global media’s “Western, critical and negativist view on the dark continent”. Despite getting along well with colleagues and editors, he did not seem to discuss this issue with them. This can be explained by the pressure put on journalists to respect certain guidelines but also by the high competition to access a stringer’s position. According to four journalists interviewed, international newsrooms still rely on anchored clichés about Africa and they seemed powerless to change that.
Adaptation to international journalistic practices
All Togolese journalists interviewed explained that they had no difficulties in adapting to the international environment as most of them had received training courses from international media professionals and some had even graduated from journalism schools in France or in the United States. Furthermore, prior to collaborating with international media organizations, most interviewees used to work for established media in Togo with journalists and editors who themselves worked with transnational news outlets. Karen explained how the editors at the national radio implemented international journalistic standards and guided her when she started collaborating with a global media company. Thus, the adjustment to international journalistic practices and formats was both gradual and instinctive.
While maintaining similar deontology and principles, the participants in this study pinpointed some differences in their work for national and international media outlets. Primarily, international news content requires more contextualization efforts because of the cosmopolitan audience’s presumed lack of knowledge about Togo. This extends the working time to produce information and may require newsroom editors to explain to local journalists what needs to be defined more in more depth. They also noticed that international media outlets use more digital formats than Togolese media companies. Another characteristic of transnational news organization identified is the lengthy decision-making process, which can be arduous.
You know, it’s a ‘big and heavy machine’ [the international news outlet he is working for], sometimes things can take a lot more time than in smaller national media. So, it’s not easy to get things done. Procedures can take a lot of time. For instance, to agree on the broadcast of something, you need to have it validate by several people in different services. Yes, sometimes
Maxime acknowledged that despite feeling at ease in his working environment he still has to adjust to some practices which can generate some kind of pressure. In the same way, Edgar admitted the struggle of being a local foreign journalist in a developing country with precarious infrastructures. For instance, the unreliable internet connection can be problematic when one has a deadline to send an article. The uncertainty of being able to satisfy the media creates pressure. It is even more the case for audiovisual journalists who send weighty files and sometimes have to organize live broadcasts in unsteady conditions. Finally, three journalists explained that working for international media outlets gave them a higher sense of responsibility in the way they perform their role. The larger the audience, the higher the pressure to do a good job. Furthermore, as local journalists are isolated, far away from the newsroom, they feel like they are less protected by the media company which again increases the pressure to perform well.
In Togo, sometimes, journalists don’t have the time to check every piece of information before broadcast and everything has to be sensational. When you work with international media, you defend your name and therefore, you have to do the job responsibly. (Aimée)
Even though Togolese journalists are well adapted to international journalistic practices, the working conditions in Togo and some specificities of cosmopolitan news outlets place constraints on local reporters.
Power deficit in international newsrooms Job precariousness
One of the most prevalent pressures on local journalists mentioned by 5 journalists out of 6 is the precariousness of their profession. Although they all acknowledged that they earn
more than the average national wage (152.45€/month), they denounced the low salary (in comparison to Western colleagues) and the lack of social protection. Journalism is intrinsically physical work, even more so in a developing country with poor road and internet infrastructures. Karen questioned herself about her future and wondered whether she will still be able to do her job at 65 as she will not get any retirement benefit despite having freelanced for over 10 years with a major American international media outlet. As a Togolese journalist, she feels it is harder to sign a permanent contract which would allow her to benefit from social security. Indeed, she is still a stringer renewing her contract every 5 years, but she hopes she will access a salaried position at the newsroom in the United States in the next couple of years. Living in a Western country is not her ambition, but she wants to be able to pay for her children’s studies and therefore, she is ready to leave her home country. Another threat to Togolese journalists’ remuneration is the sending of parachute journalists to cover specific events occurring in Togo, for instance presidential elections. Two interviewees explained that they tend to see them as competitors rather than colleagues from the same outlets.
At first, when they [the editors of the media] told me they were going to send a special correspondent to cover the presidential elections, I told myself ‘damn, he is going to steal my work!’ I counted on that electoral period to make more money. Thankfully it was not bad, and we managed to equally share the work. (Karen)
Karen still believes that sending parachute journalists for two weeks is a waste of money. If media companies hire local journalists who own more ‘embodied capital’, they should also trust them to cover important events such as presidential elections. She continued explaining that some Togolese colleagues who collaborate with international media corporations feel exploited when the newsroom send a special correspondent because they are seen as fixers rather than equal journalists. Karen jokingly remembered an anecdote.
There’s a colleague whose parachute journalist came to Togo and he had been banned from doing his job, even taking photos. The ‘little white journalist’ did it all. Some colleagues and I said to each other ‘what if we scare him so that our friend would have the chance to at least take pictures?’ Yeah… Sometimes we think of things like that because we are not treated well. (Karen)
This complex relationship between local journalists and foreign reporters is linked to the broader issue of the imbalanced ratio of power between Western versus African journalists.
Ratio of power between African and Western journalists
Overall, the Togolese journalists interviewed said they maintained collaborative and friendly relations with their colleagues in international newsrooms. Three of them were even able to visit the headquarters of the media company and were delighted to meet them in person. However, four participants declared that despite the sympathy, they felt some kind of power imbalance materializing in different ways. As seen above, Togolese journalists feel that it is harder for them to obtain a staff contract and an appropriate salary, in comparison to their Western colleagues. Even with a French journalism degree, Edgar experienced unequal opportunities for internships and jobs. Another asymmetry is that local journalists assume that Western journalistic practices are the reference point for “good” journalism, not only in international media organizations but also in media training taking place in Africa. Charles disclosed his admiration for Western reporters whom he learned from, but he also mentioned that some occidental journalists have a distorted expertise on Africa and sometimes even make grotesque mistakes with names, dates, numbers, facts. Yet he feels that Western journalists tend to patronize local ones.
If I write a paper that’s well received, which attracted the audience, they [the newsroom] will find it extraordinary, even though it’s not. I went to school, I learned French and I can write as well as a French journalist. (Charles)
Furthermore, Charles is sure that the presence of a white superiority complex in international newsrooms is a reality. Martin also noticed some kind of condescension towards African journalists and admits that even though he never suffered from it, it surely exists. What is striking is that this unbalanced ratio of power is also noticeable in the local field. Charles explained that he often welcomes aspiring Western journalists for internships at the Togolese media he founded, and he amusedly detailed how they are greeted as “stars” by his colleagues but also by political actors in the country who seem more flattered to be interviewed by Western interns than by the Togolese director of publication.
Figure 2 – Empowerment and disempowerment processes in African local journalists’ collaboration with international media organizations in the local and transnational fields
Disempowerment processes / manifestation of media imperialism
LOCAL FIELD TRANSNATIONAL FIELD
Higher remuneration than national colleagues
Higher approval rating and sense of responsibility
Perceived power imbalance with Western colleagues (status, access to
sources, salary…)
Deduce that Western journalists are the reference point for “good journalism” and thus are better appreciated by local actors
Job precariousness: no social protection, difficult access to staff contract
Victims of Western superiority complex / Condescension towards African
journalists African local journalists collaborating
Media imperialism as the justification of the power imbalance
Four Togolese journalists out of the six interviewed clearly denounced power imbalance in international newsrooms. When asked about their opinion of the roots of such discrimination, they gave relatively similar interpretations: colonialism, racism, slavery and exploitation. They explained the unequal power struggles between Western and African journalists with references to historical events.
It’s historical. It’s linked to colonization because it has left indelible consequences which make believe that white men are superior to black men. In all sphere of society, a black man’s value is rarely linked to his merit or skills. (Charles)
According to the journalists, being an African journalist is a handicap, even in today’s global media system, because it replicates systemic racial imbalances present in most Western societies. Thus, they are not surprised when experiencing prejudice. Martin demonstrates his awareness that being an African journalist is still a handicap in the transnational media system.
It’s like a handicap but you’re conscious of it and you know you have to work harder to compensate for it. That’s what I told my friends. They have to learn the international standards to be prepared. (Martin)
Most Togolese journalists interviewed in this study perceive and even assimilate the system of domination in the global media industry. The remaining unequal relations of power in the ownership, structure, distribution and production of the modern media industry do not seem to override their desire to take part in international newsrooms as it is compensated by essential advantages such as greater financial compensation and authority in the local field.
Discussion
This research article unpacks how Togolese journalists contribute to and perceive the functioning of international media outlets. The first sub-research question interrogated the roles non-Western local journalists are assigned to in the international news-making process. Through interviews, local journalists depicted the great variety of roles they handle in their collaboration with global newsrooms, from pitching ideas to sending a final product in the form of articles, videos, photos or radio reports. Contrary to Bunce (2010) and Hannerz’s (2004) findings, Togolese journalists generally feel that their work is recognized at its true worth and they often are congratulated by their superiors as well as their colleagues. Yet the content analysis uncovered the fact that fixers’ contributions to the coverage of Togolese presidential elections are never acknowledged publicly (Hannerz, 2000). The second sub-research question asked: How do Togolese journalists interpret and negotiate with the hierarchical structure of international media organizations to perform their role? The results show that despite a general positive evaluation of the collaboration, the interviewees expressed some challenges and frustrations related to the particular environment of international news organizations. Togolese journalists working for international news companies occupy an ambiguous position between Togolese society and the outside world. Their understanding of the journalistic game incorporates elements of each field, resulting in seemingly conflicting behaviors and feelings (Moon, 2019; Murrel, 2010). Indeed, this study shows how the collaboration impacts Togolese journalists in two contradictory ways. While they have the power to address a larger audience which makes them feel respected and admired, especially in their home country, they also feel more responsible and stressed about the news production. Being physically distant from the newsroom, usually based in Europe or in the United States, makes them feel more at risk both in terms of losing their credibility and their job. Throughout
the interviews, journalists shared the same analysis that working with or for an international media company is an opportunity they can hardly reject.
Using Bourdieu’s field theory (1989), the position of local-foreign correspondents – bridging two journalism fields and navigating expectations and pressure from each – comes into focus as one that can be also be precarious and disempowering. Albeit that their acquired capital positively materializes in the national field where they feel respected and envied by national colleagues, Togolese journalists still endure inequalities due to their position in the hierarchical structure of international news organizations. Most local-foreign reporters interviewed are stringers meaning that their contract can end at any time and they do not receive employer-provided benefits such as vacation pay, health insurance or pension. This precarious situation constrains them to look for other sources of income and reinforces the sentiment of injustice towards staff when special correspondents come to help cover specific events, for instance, presidential elections. Local journalists can see them as a threat because they are more powerful, not only in the international field (Murrel, 2010), but also in the national one. Likewise, local perspectives rarely make their way into news contents (Seo, 2016) as some international news corporations promulgate a strict editorial line. Field theory reveals the mechanisms leading to the imbalance in the ratio of power between Western and African journalists. Yet, it does not comprehend the essence of such inequalities which is to be found in the concept of media imperialism.
When interrogating journalists, it seems clear to them that the roots of the discrimination they face is linked to broader interests in the international order. Indeed, they mention historical events such colonization and slavery as the explanation of inequalities in the hierarchical structure of transnational newsrooms. Therefore, the findings of this research suggest that the
concept of media imperialism, far from being outdated, is suitable to expand the analysis of the power struggles in the transnational journalistic field. However, no participant in the study expressed any difference of treatment depending on the nationality of the international media organizations they work for and when the interviewees denounced power imbalance, they consistently referred to “Western” journalists, journalistic practices or media outlets. Therefore, no causative link can be found between the historical background of the country of origin of a media company and the way it treats local journalists.
There are other limitations in this study. It analyzes the role of local-foreign correspondents in one country with a small journalistic field. Nonetheless, Togo is exemplary of many countries, especially in Africa, in which neo-colonialist critics persist in a different sphere of society, including the media industry. These analysts have long denounced the international news media’s tendency to speak on behalf of Africans, rather than letting Africans speak for themselves. According to Edgar, the integration of African journalists into management positions may help fight stereotypes in day-to-day reporting and encourage a wider range of local perspectives.
All in all, the study showed that any claims about the dissolution of inequalities in the era of global media are premature. It is evident for most participants that the dominance of Western views and journalistic practices in international newsrooms continues without major challenge which contradicts to a certain extent Bardoel and Deuze’s affirmation that international media, unlike Western national media, are detached from national cultures and societies (2001). Future research could delve deeper into the structure and practices of international media organizations and compare them with Western national media companies. Coming back to the interviews, Charles’ aspiration for forthcoming collaboration is the broader
integration of local journalists and the universalization of journalistic principles enabling non-Western journalists to perform their role without constraint. Nonetheless, there are signs that newsrooms are becoming more inclusive of minorities and the idea of ‘white’ editors dictating descriptions of Africa seems increasingly unpalatable. If most Togolese journalists still feel subordinate, the space for debate is at least open and it may be that a steady synthesis is emerging. By engaging Togolese local-foreign reporters about their perception of the functioning of international news organizations, this study enriches the pre-existing literature about local journalists and aspire to offer an analysis to international newsrooms who would be willing to reform their hierarchical structure to the benefit of all stakeholders.
References
Atad, E. (2017). Global Newsworthiness and Reversed Domestication. Journalism Practice, 11(6), 760-776. doi:10.1080/17512786.2016.1194223.
Bardoel, J. & Deuze, M. (2001). Network journalism: Converging competences of media professionals and professionalism. Australian Journalism Review, 23 (2), 91-103. Benson R. & Neveu, E. (eds) (2005) Bourdieu and the Journalistic Field. Cambridge: Polity
Press.
Bishara, A. (2006). “Local Hands, International News: Palestinian Journalists and the International Media.” Ethnography 7.1: 19–46.
Bourdieu, P. (1989). Social Space and Symbolic Power, Sociological Theory; 7(1), 14–25. doi:10.2307/202060
Bourdieu, P. (1998) On Television. New York: Free Press.
Boyd-Barrett, O. (2015). Media imperialism. London; SAGE Publications.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2013). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. Thousand Oaks: Sage
Brookes, H. J. (1995). ‘Suit, Tie and a Touch of Juju’ – The Ideological Construction of Africa: A Critical Discourse Analysis of News on Africa in the British Press. Discourse and Society, 6(4), 461-494.
Bunce, M. (2010). “This Place Used to be a White British Boys” Club’: Reporting Dynamics and Cultural Clash at an International News Bureau in Nairobi. The Round Table, 99(410), 515–528. https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2010.509950
Cooper, A., & Owen, T. (2014, December 3). The new global journalism: Foreign
correspondence in transition. New York, NY: The Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Retrieved from
https://www.cjr.org/tow_center_reports/the_new_global_journalism.php
David, M., & Sutton, C. (2011). Social Research. The Basics. Second ed. Thousand Oaks & New Delhi: Sage Publications
Deacon, D., Bryman, A., & Fenton, N. (1998) Collision or collusion? A discussion and case study of the unplanned triangulation of quantitative and qualitative research
methods, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 1:1, 47-63, DOI: 10.1080/13645579.1998.10846862
Dimitrakopoulou, D. (2015). INFOCORE Definitions: “Local, National, Transnational / International Media”. Athens: Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy. http://www.infocore.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/def_Local-national-transnational-international-media.pdf
Enda, J. (2011). Retreating from the World, American Journalism Review. Retrieved from
https://ajrarchive.org/Article.asp?id=4985&id=4985
Erickson, E. & Hamilton, J. M. (2006) ‘Foreign Reporting Enhanced by Parachute Journalism’, Newspaper Research Journal, February: 33–47.
Fair, J. E. (1992). Are We Really the World? Coverage of U.S. Food Aid in Africa, 1980-1989”. In B. G. Hawk (Ed.), Africa’s Media Image (pp. 109-120). New York: Praeger. Fassinger, R. E. (2005). Paradigms, praxis, problems, and promise: Grounded theory in
counseling psychology research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 156– 166. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.156
Fejes, F. (1981). Media imperialism: an assessment. Media, Culture & Society, 3(3), 281–289. https://doi.org/10.1177/016344378100300306
Franks, S. (2005) The neglect of Africa, British Journalism Review, 16(1), pp. 59–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956474805053362
Galtung, J. (1979). “A Structural Theory of Imperialism”. In Modelski, G. (ed.), Transnational Corporations and World Order. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman
Hamilton, J. (2010). The (many) markets for international news: How news from abroad sells at home. Journalism Studies, 11(5), 650–666.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2010.502789
Hamilton, J., & Jenner, E. (2004). Redefining Foreign Correspondence. Journalism, 5(3), 301–321. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884904044938
Hannerz, U. (2000) Foreign News: Exploring the World of Foreign Correspondents. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hannerz, U. (2004). Foreign News: Exploring the World of Foreign Correspondents. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Harris, P. (1981). News Dependence and Structural Change”. In Richstad and Anderson: 365-368.
Hawk, B.G. (1992). Africa’s Media Image. New York: Praeger
Hellmueller, L. (2017). Gatekeeping Beyond Geographical Borders: Developing an
Analytical Model of Transnational Journalism Cultures. International Communication Gazette. 79(1), 3-25. doi:10.1177/1748048516656304.
Jerolmack, C., & Khan, S. (2014). Talk Is Cheap: Ethnography and the Attitudinal Fallacy. Sociological Methods & Research, 43(2), 178–209.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124114523396
Kliesch, R. E. (1991) ‘The US Press Corps Abroad Rebounds: A 7th World Survey of Foreign Correspondents’, Newspaper Research Journal, 12/1: 24–33.
LeCompte, M. D., & Goetz, J. P. (1982). Problems of Reliability and Validity in Ethnographic Research. Review of Educational Research, 52, 31-60.
https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543052001031
Meyer, W. (1988). Transnational media and Third World development: the structure and impact of imperialism. New York: Greenwood.
Mitra, S. (2019). “‘Picturing Afghan Women’ for Western Audiences: The Afghan Perspective. Journalism. 1-21. doi:10.1177/1464884919849359.
Moon, R. (2019). Beyond Puppet Journalism: The Bridging Work of Transnational Journalists in a Local Field, Journalism Studies, 20(12), 1714-1731, doi:
10.1080/1461670X.2019.1638293
Morley, D. & Robins, K. (1995). Spaces of Identity. Global media, electronic landscapes and cultural boundaries. London and New York: Routledge.
Murrell, C. (2010). Baghdad bureaux: an exploration of the interconnected world of fixers and correspondents at the BBC and CNN. Media, War & Conflict, 3(2), 125–137.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1750635210363338
Ogundimu, F. & Fair, J. E. (1997). Before “Hope Was Restored”: News Media Portrayals of Somalia Prior to the U.S. Intervention. Northeast African Studies, 4(2), 19-41.
http://doi.org/10.1353/nas.1997.0006
Pedelty, M. (1995). War Stories: The Culture of Foreign Correspondents. New York: Routledge.
Palmer, J. and V. Fontan (2007) ‘“Our Ears and Our Eyes”: Journalists and fixers in Iraq’, Journalism 8(1): 5–24.
Palmer, L. (2018). Becoming the Story: War Correspondents since 9/11. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage
Seo, S. (2016). Marginal Majority at The Postcolonial News Agency: Foreign journalistic hires at the Associated Press. Journalism Studies, 17(1), 39–56.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2014.954891
Silberstein-Loeb, J. (2014) The International Distribution of News: The Associated Press, Press Association, and Reuters, 1848-1947, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Smith, J.A. & Osborn, M. (2003) Interpretative phenomenological analysis. In J.A. Smith (Ed.), Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods. London: Sage. Sparks, C. (2007). Globalization, development and the mass media. London: Sage.
Sparks, C. (2012). Media and cultural imperialism reconsidered, Chinese Journal of Communication, 5(3), 281-299, https://doi.org/10.1080/17544750.2012.701417
Straubhaar, J. (1991). Beyond media imperialism: asymmetrical interdependence and cultural proximity, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 8: 39-59
Tomlinson, J. (1991). Cultural Imperialism: A Critical Introduction. London: Continuum. Webb, J., T. Schirato and G. Danaher (2002) Understanding Bourdieu. Crows Nest, NSW,
Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Wu, H., & Hamilton, J. (2004). US Foreign Correspondents: Changes and Continuity at the Turn of the Century. Gazette, 66(6), 517–532
Appendices
1. List of participantsThe names of the interviewees are invented. Their real names are known by the author. For the sake of anonymity, only an indication of the gender, the years of experience and the type of collaboration with international media is given in this table.
2. Interview guide
Concepts Focus area Questions and prompts Warm-up questions Tell me in a couple of sentences about your job.
Experience with international media
organizations
Have you already collaborated with an international media outlet? - If yes: which one(s)? how many times? How did you get in
touch with the media outlet?
- If no: did you try? Why did it not work? Would you try again? Journalistic field / practices Role(s) in the journalistic field (newsgathering and newswriting process)
What was your role(s) in the collaboration?
- Did you collect information/produced the news content/ help a parachute journalist/ …? Given name (real name known by author) Gender Years of experience in journalism Type of collaboration with international media Location of journalist Mode of interviewing Language of interview Date of interview Nicolas M 25 Permanent
correspondent Lomé, Togo Phone call French 26-03-2020
Aimée F 13 Freelance Lomé, Togo Skype French 26-03-2020
Martin M 15 Freelance Dakar,
Senegal Phone call French 27-03-2020
Charles M 24 Freelance Lomé, Togo Skype French 10-04-2020
Karen F 16 Permanent
correspondent Lomé, Togo Phone call French 18-04-2020
Edgar M 22
Permanent correspondent /
freelance
- Were you hired as a journalist/fixer/source…?
Perception of international journalistic practices
How did the collaboration go?
- What tasks did they ask you to do? How similar was it to what you do in your daily job?
- Were you satisfied with your work? Was the outlet satisfied with your work? If not, why do you think so?
Media imperialism
Negotiation with Western colleagues
How did you get along with other colleagues and editors?
- How many times did you exchange with colleagues or editors from the organization?
- How would you define your relationship with colleagues and editors at the organization?
Did you have any misunderstandings or disagreements with colleagues or editors? If yes, can you explain why and how was it solved?
Perceptions about the ratio of power
In general, how do you feel about this collaboration?
- Do you think it was positive/negative/mixed feelings? Why? - Did you feel any frustration and/or satisfaction throughout
the collaboration?
- Was your input (fully) appreciated by the media outlet? If yes, how? If not, why?
How were you treated by the organization (in comparison with western colleagues)?
- Was there any difference in the status / salary? If yes, how can you explain?
If you could improve further collaboration, how would you do so? - What advice would you give to international media
organizations when collaborating with local journalists?
Closure Do you want to add any comment you deem important?
Debrief Go through all key points of the interview and check interpretation and understanding with the participant.
