Fixing Stories
Local Newsmaking and International Media in Turkey and Syria

Examines the role and influence of news 'fixers' in Turkey and Syria who assist foreign journalists with local sources and shape the news.

Noah Amir Arjomand (Author)

9781316518007, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 February 2022

288 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.6 cm, 0.68 kg

'… unique, original, and interesting … eye-opening … Highly recommended.' R. W. Olson

News 'fixers' are translators and guides who assist foreign journalists. Sometimes key contributors to bold, original reporting and other times key facilitators of homogeneity and groupthink in the news media, they play the difficult but powerful role of broker between worlds, shaping the creation of knowledge from behind the scenes. In Fixing Stories, Noah Amir Arjomand reflects on the nature of news production and cross-cultural mediation. Based on human stories drawn from three years of field research in Turkey, this book unfolds as a series of narratives of fixers' career trajectories during a period when the international media spotlight shone on Turkey and Syria. From the Syrian Civil War, Gezi Park protest movement, rise of authoritarianism in Turkey and of ISIS in Syria, to the rekindling of conflict in both countries' Kurdish regions and Turkey's 2016 coup attempt, Arjomand brings to light vivid personal accounts and insider perspectives on world-shaking events alongside analysis of the role fixers have played in bringing news of Turkey and Syria to international audiences.

Introduction: A Tale of Two Fixers
1. Beginnings
2. Fitting In
3. Moral Worlds of Ambivalence and Bias
4. Translations
5. From Local to Global
Appendix: Sociological Fiction.

Subject Areas: Middle Eastern history [HBJF1], Asian history [HBJF], Regional & national history [HBJ], History [HB], Humanities [H]