NPR editor joins ‘Fixers & Journalism’ program

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 worked with American journalists abroad. 

On Thursday, Jan. 30 from 3-4:15p.m., join a discussion about 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. Registration is open.

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 and NPR’s International Desk Editor Larry Kaplow plan to share best practices for correspondent-fixer collaborations. They also are expected to 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. 
• Larry Kaplow, NPR’s International Desk Editor who edits the work of NPR’s correspondents in the Middle East and helps direct coverage about the region. Kaplow reported extensively from the Middle East, as well as Mexico City and Guatemala, prior to joining NPR in 2013.

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

Contact Beth Francesco, senior director of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, with any questions at [email protected].