Foreign correspondence from Sub-Saharan Africa: An evolving communicational paradigm shift

Paulo Nuno Vicente

Authors

Paulo Nuno Vicente CIMJ - Centro de Investigação Media e Jornalismo, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Keywords:

Foreign correspondent, international news reporting, multidimensional network of correspondences, networked journalism, pro-am, social media.

Abstract

A sizable portion of our everyday knowledge about Sub-Saharan Africa comes from the work of international news reporters. Even though these news actors play a critical role in the communication of the distant Other, frequently criticized for its representational deficits, scholar empirical research on the work of foreign correspondents has been considerably neglected: it is now decades old, it lacks a systematic examination of the on the ground realities of journalism in Africa and of the evolving work of professionals and Pro-Ams supported by networked digital media. This article analyses the evolving professional cultures and newswork of those individuals (micro). It inspects long-term trajectories in international journalism combined with short-term developments based on transformations on microelectronics and digitization.

We conduct the first recorded Pan-African online survey on the work of international news reporters, collecting answers from 124 participants in 41 countries. These findings are complemented by semi-structured interviews with 43 professionals based in Nairobi, Dakar and Johannesburg. Our findings challenge the narrative of international news reporting as a dying breed. Instead, they support a nuanced view towards localized continuities and localized ruptures in contemporary post-industrial mediascape: its socio-demographics express a considerably precarious new economy of foreign correspondence –particularly, in the case of freelance workers– while the use of network-based digital media is driving the field towards the rising of a multilayered confederacy of distinct correspondences.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Author Biography

Paulo Nuno Vicente, CIMJ - Centro de Investigação Media e Jornalismo, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Paulo Nuno Vicente is a non-fiction storyteller running away from superficial breaking news-based journalism and pursuing the challenge of multimedia in-depth documentary projects. As a journalist he has reported mainly from the so called «global south»: Guinea-Bissau, Ceuta and Melilla, São Tomé and Príncipe, Lebanon, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel and the West Bank, Cape Verd, Chad and Central African Republic, Brazil, Kenya, Senegal and South Africa. In documentary filmmaking he has directed «Building Paradise» (2009), «Imperfect Triangles» (2010), «Kilombos» (2012) and worked as a consultant for «Urok» (2013).

GRANTS & AWARDS

2009-2013: Ph.D Fellowship, UT Austin-Portugal Advanced Program in Digital Media. His research project is dedicated to study the ongoing transformations within international new reporting from Subsharan Africa, with a very strong eye on social media and citizen journalism.

2009: Prize of Journalism and Human Rights, UNESCO, for the radio documentary Chad: in the dead heart of Africa

2009: Prize of Mayor at Agrofilm Festival, Slovakia, for the documentary Building Paradise

As a journalism professor and trainer, he has been involved in the following courses: Contemporary Questions in Journalism (New University of Lisbon, Academic Year 2012/2013, Master in Journalism, Portugal); Multimedia Journalism (New University of Lisbon, Academic Year 2012/2013, Master in Journalism, Portugal); Budget Reporting (Deutsche Welle Akademie, October-November 2012, Mozambique); Multimedia Journalism (New University of Lisbon, Academic Year 2011/2012, Portugal); Introduction to Multimedia Journalism (Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, 2012, Portugal); Radio Journalism (Deutsche Welle Akademie, September 2010, Guinea-Bissau).

- See more at: http://digital-storytelling.net/about/#sthash.AtTJHkp9.dpuf

References

Abbott, A. (1988). The System of Professions: an Essay on the Division of Expert Labor. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Andén-Papadopoulos, K., & Pantti, M. (2013). Re-imagining crisis reporting: Professional ideology of journalists and citizen eyewitness images. Journalism, 0(0), 1-18.

Anderson, C. W., Bell, E., & Shirky, C. (2012). Post-Industrial journalism: Adapting to the Present. Columbia: Tow Center for Digital Journalism.

Archetti, C. (2012). Which future for foreign correspondence? London foreign correspondents in the age of global media. Journalism Studies, 13(5-6), 847-856.

Archetti, C. (2013). Journalism in the age of global media: The evolving practices of foreign correspondents in London. Journalism, 14(3), 419-436.

Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Balcytiene, A., Raymaeckers, K., & Vartanova, E. (2011). Changing Practices of Journalism. In J. Trappel (Ed.), Media in Europe Today. Bristol: Intellect.

Beckett, C. (2010). The Value of Networked Journalism. London: The London School of Economics and Political Science - POLIS: Journalism and Society.

Beeson, D. E. (2004). In Search of Women's History: Conflicting Narratives in the Autobiographies of Two Women Foreig Correspondents. The University of Iowa, Iowa City.

Berg, B. L. (2001). Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Bird, E. S. (2010). The Anthropology of News and Journalism: Why Now? In E. S. Bird (Ed.), The Anthropology of News and Journalism: Global Perspectives. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Born, D. J. (1987). The Reporting of American Women Foreign Correspondents from the Vietnam War. Michigan State University.

Bruns, A. (2005). Gatewatching: collaborative online news production. New York: Peter Lang.

Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. London: Sage Publications.

Castells, M. (1999). Flows, Networks, and Identities: A Critical Theory of the Informational Society. In M. Castells, R. Flecha, P. Freire, H. A. Giroux, D. Macedo & P. Willis (Eds.), Critical Education in the News Information Age. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

Castells, M. (2000). The Rise of the Network Society - Vol. 1 - The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

Castells, M. (2007). Communication, Power and Counter-power in the Network Society. International Journal of Communication, 1(1), 238-266.

Castells, M., & Monge, P. (2011). Prologue to the Special Section: Network Multidimensionality in the Digital Age. International Journal of Communication, 5(0), 788–793.

Coleman, S., Anthony, S., & Morrison, D. E. (2009). Public Trust in the News: A Constructivist Study of the Social Life of the News. Oxford: University of Oxford - Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Constable, P. (2007). Demise of the Foreign Correspondent. The Washington Post.

Cordova, K. A. (1989). The Missionary as a Part-time Foreign Correspondent or Stringer. CBN University, Virginia.

Deacon, D., Pickering, M., Golding, P., & Murdock, G. (1999). Research Communications: A Practical Guide to Methods in Media and Cultural Analysis. London: Arnold.

Demers, F. (2007). Déstructuration et restructuration du journalisme. Tic & Société, 1(1), 29-55.

Deuze, M. (2008d). Understanding Journalism as Newswork: How it changes, and How it remains the same. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 5(2), 4-23.

Deuze, M., & Marjoribanks, T. (2009). Newswork. Journalism, 10(5), 555-561.

Fennel, M. (2005). Women War Correspondents: Three Generations on the Frontlines or the Sidelines? A content analysis of the newspaper coverage written by leading American women correspondents in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and Iraq Wars. Carleton University, Ottawa.

Friedman. (2008). Why foreign correspondents' ranks are thinning. The Wall Street Journal.

Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books, Inc., Publishers.

Ginneken, J. v. (1998). Understanding Global News: A critical introduction. London: SAGE Publications.

Hachten, W. A., & Scotton, J. F. (2007). The World News Prism: Global Information in a Satellite Age. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.

Hanitzsch, T. (2007). Deconstructing Journalism Culture: Toward a Universal Theory. Communication Theory, 17(4), 367-385.

Hannerz, U. (2004). Foreign News: Exploring the World of Foreign Correspondents. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Heinrich, A. (2012). Foreign reporting in the sphere of network journalism. Journalism Practice(iFirst Article), 1-10.

Hermida, A. (2012). Tweets and truth: Journalism as a discipline of collaborative verification. Journalism Practice, 6(5-6), 1-10.

Hess, S. (1996). International News & Foreign Correspondents. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.

Hess, S. (2005). Through their Eyes: Foreign Correspondents in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Brooking Institution Press.

Hudson, L. S. (1999). Jane McManus Storm Cazneau (1807-1878): A Biography. University of North Texas, Denton.

Jensen, K. B., & Jankowski (Eds.). (1991). A Handbook of Qualitative Methodologies for Mass Communication Research. London: Routledge.

Kenya: Unlicensed Foreign Journalists in Kenya to Be Prosecuted. (2013). All Africa.

Kovach, B., & Rosentiel, T. (2001). The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect. New York: Random House.

Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Leadbeater, C., & Miller, P. (2004). The Pro-Am Revolution: How enthusiasts are changing our economy and society: DEMOS.

The Little Data Book on Information and Communication Technology. (2012). Washington: The World Bank

Maxwell, J. W. (1956). The Foreign Correspondents: A Social and Functional Analysis. State University of Iowa.

Mead, G. H. (1967). Mind, Self, and Society: from the standpoint of a social behaviorist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Miller, D., & Slater, D. (2000). The Internet: an Ethnographic Approach. Oxford: Berg.

Mody, B. (2010). The Geopolitics of Representation in Foreign News: Explaining Darfur. Lanham: Lexington Books.

Monroy-Hernández, A., boyd, d., Kiciman, E., De Choudhury, M., & Counts, S. (2013). The New War Correspondents: The Rise of Civic Media Curation in Urban Warfare. Paper presented at the CSCW 13.

Morrison, D. E., & Tumber, H. (1985). The Foreign Correspondents: Date-line London. Media, Culture & Society, 7(4), 445-470.

Morse, J. M., & Field, P. A. (2002). Nursing Research: The Application of Qualitative Approaches. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.

Murchison, J. M. (2010). Ethnography Essentials: Designing, Conducting and Presenting Your Research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Nosaka, T. (1992). American Foreign Correspondents in Japan: Profile and Problems in Coverage. California State University, Fresno.

Novak, R. J., & Davidson, S. (2013). Journalists Reporting on Hazardous Events: Constructing Protective Factors Within the Professional Role. Traumatology, XX(X), 1-10.

Ornebring, H. (2009). The two professionalisms of journalism: Journalism and the changing context of work. Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Papacharissi, Z. (2009). The Citizen is the Message: Alternative Modes of Civic Engagement. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), Journalism and Communication: New Agendas in Communication. New York: Routledge.

Park, R. E. (1940). News as a Form of Knowledge: a Chapter in the Sociology of Knowldge. The American Journal of Sociology, 45(5), 669-686.

Petersen, H. (2011). The Need for Foreign Correspondents: A Cost Benefit Analysis. California Polytechnic State University - Journalism Department.

Profita, H. (2007). Are Foreign Correspondents A "Dying Breed"? cbsnews.com.

Rannikko, U. J. (2010). Going Beyond the Mainstream? Online Participatory Journalism as a Mode of Civic Engagement. London Scholl of Economics, London.

Reese, S. D. (2001). Understanding the Global Journalist: a hierarchy-of-influences approach Journalism Studies, 2(2), 173-187.

Reese, S. D. (2010). Journalism and Globalization. Sociology Compass, 3(6), 344-353.

Rhodes, T. (2013). New challenges for local and foreign press in Kenya. Commitee to Protect Journalists.

Robertson, R. (1992). Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture. London: Sage Publications.

Robertson, R. (1997). Social Theory, Cultural Relativity and the Problem of Globality. In A. D. King (Ed.), Culture, Globalization and the World System: Contemporary Conditions for the Representation of Identity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Rosen, J. (1994). Tornar a vida pública mais pública: sobre a responsabilidade política dos intelectuais dos media. In N. Traquina & M. Mesquita (Eds.), Jornalismo Cívico. Lisboa: Livros Horizonte.

Sambrook, R. (2010). Are Foreign Correspondents Redundant? The Changing face of International News. Oxford: University of Oxford - Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

Schensul, S., Schensul, J. J., & LeCompte, M. D. (1999). Essential Ethnographic Methods: Observations, Interviews, and Questionaires. Oxford: Altamira Press.

Sreberny, A., & Paterson, C. (2004). Shouting from the Rooftops: Reflections on International news in the 21st Century. In A. Sreberny & C. Paterson (Eds.), International News in the 21st Century. Hants: University of Luton Press.

Sub-Saharan Africa: Maintaining Growth in an Uncertain World. (2012). Washington: International Monetary Fund.

Traquina, N. (2003). Jornalismo Cívico: Reforma ou Revolução? In N. Traquina & M. Mesquita (Eds.), Jornalismo Cívico. Lisboa: Livros Horizonte.

Tuchman, G. (1978). Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality. New York: The Free Press.

Ugland, E., & Henderson, J. (2007). Who is a Journalist and Why does it Matter? Disentangling the Legal and Ethical Arguments. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 22(4), 241-261.

Utley, G. (1997). The Shrinking of Foreign News: From Broadcast to Narrowcast. Foreign Affairs, 76(2), 2-10.

Weaver, D. (2008). Methods of Journalism Research - Survey. In M. Loffelholz & D. Weaver (Eds.), Global Journalism Research: Theories, Methods, Findings, Future. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.

Welch, S. (1972). The American Press and Indochina, 1950-56. In R. L. Merritt (Ed.), Communication in International Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

The World in 2011: ICT Facts and Figures. (2011). Geneva: International Telecommunication Union.

Zelizer, B. (1993). Journalists as Interpretive Communities. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 10(3), 219-237.