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- Title
Media, Molvi and Malala: A perspective on the ethics of news fixing.
- Authors
Ashraf, Syed Irfan
- Abstract
In this essay, I offer a perspective on the consequences of reporting from a marginalized trade position called „fixer'. Fixers are daily wage workers hired in global news production to help international journalists report from conflict-hit zones. Back in 2009, the New York Times hired me as a fixer to co-produce a documentary on Malala, a preteen activist struggling for her right to education in the Taliban-controlled Swat valley at the peak of terrorism in Pakistan. The project was the first of its kind to introduce the protagonist to a global audience. In 2012, the Taliban led by Molvi Fazlullah shot Malala in the head. Though the girl survived and also won the Nobel Peace prize in 2014, popular discourses held the global media responsible for exposing the child activist to violence. This essay takes up the issue of news source security without limiting my perspective to Malala. I highlight, while using Marxist framework, how working as a fixer reduces a journalist to a vulnerable status, exposing him/her to threats, and jeopardizes news sources' security. I argue that the role emerged in tandem with the wider practices of decontextualizing local events, people and stories to fit the consumption patterns of free market economy.
- Subjects
PAKISTAN; NEW York Times, The (Newspaper); CAPITALISM; NOBEL Peace Prize; CONSUMPTION (Economics); ATTRIBUTION of news; FREE enterprise
- Publication
Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (Pakistan), 2020, Vol 28, Issue 2, p1
- ISSN
1024-0829
- Publication type
Article