Panel explores working together internationally, Jan. 30

If you read an international news story today, it likely was reported with the aid of a fixer -- a local, on-the-ground guide who works with American journalists abroad. On Thursday, Jan. 30, from 3 p.m. to 4:15 p.m., learn from the vast network of locally-based media employees who serve as guides to foreign journalists operating in unfamiliar terrain. Their intimate knowledge of local communities and  relationships make fixers an essential part of the news-gathering process overseas. 

The event is free for members and $5 for non-members. Register by clicking here.

Fixers take great risk to help tell important stories. These cultural mediators frequently jeopardize their safety and security, reputation, and relationships in pursuit of truth. A panel of journalists who worked as fixers plan to share best practices for correspondent-fixer collaborations. They’ll also share important insight on crediting fixers, safety measures, and the challenges of embedding and  “parachute journalism” in foreign countries.

Panelists include:

• Chris Knittel, a fixer/producer in the United States who covers crime subjects for documentaries across the country. He’s worked for National Geographic, VICELAND, Netflix and others. He is currently directing his first feature documentary about a murder he witnessed as a juvenile, 21 years ago.
• Ashraf Khalil, a Cairo-based reporter for the Associated Press who has worked as a fixer and a writer in Egypt and Iraq, where he’s been published by Foreign Policy, The Times of London and Rolling Stone, among others.
• Suzan Haidamous, a Washington Post reporter covering Lebanon, Syria and the Middle East region. She has worked as a fixer, producer and interpreter since 2006 for ABC Australia, BBC, CBS, PBS, NPR, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, and many other news organizations. 

The discussion will be moderated by Lindsay Palmer, an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of The Fixers: Local News Workers and the Underground Labor of International Reporting. Palmer’s book will be available for purchase at the program. 

As Palmer shares in her book, "Fixers' contributions to journalism are largely hidden from us, yet they underpin the entire international news industry: almost every international news story we read today could not be produced without a fixer.”

The panel discussion is scheduled to be live-streamed to reach people abroad, and panelists plan to take questions from in-person and virtual audiences during the talk.