International correspondents

This chapter explores selected transnational histories of international reporters, media institutions, international cultures, professionalism, and the dynamics of cross-border news reporting. The entry begins with a discussion of international correspondents’ eyewitnessing role and how these reporters routinely cross borders to source information and produce news. Next, the entry describes the challenges, working conditions, risks, the practice of liaising with local and freelance reporters, and pressures, including government propaganda and censorship. This chapter will also discuss the historical importance of international correspondents, issues of elitism, gatekeeping, and cosmopolitanism, and the expanding role of women correspondents in the early twentieth century. This chapter then synthesizes recent scholarship on international cross-media and digital reporting practices, parachute journalists, freelancers, fixers, and citizen reporters, and provides an outlook for future research.