We have heard time and again that even renowned international news outlets have failed to deliver accurate news. Many studies in the United States also show that Americans, in general, do not trust most of the news released by popular news agencies. The trust issues are more pronounced for those news stories on international incidents, where star journalists are sent to cover the happenings.
In Byline, Cristi Hegranes, the author, along with Seth Libby, exposes the dark realities and treatments of traditional parachute journalism practices, usually pursued by American or European media houses while covering international news, especially outside their region. Cristi starts with her own journey to Nepal as part of her classroom assignment while she was a journalism student at New York University. She was a ‘parachute’ at that time and realized how parachute reporters had to rely on fixers, translators, local journalists, and government officers. She could not report on the civil war in Nepal objectively due to the control of government officials. Cristi later learned that Nepal’s prime news was covered by parachute journalists from India and Europe who heavily relied on the versions of fixers and government and non-government players. She recollects how she started the nonprofit news organization Global Press at the age of a mere 25, after her Nepal stay and a brief job at SF Weekly.
Cristi was determined to change international news, and her motive was to build independent news bureaus staffed by local women reporters in some of the world’s least-covered places. That gave birth to Global Press. According to Cristi, the mindset of how international stories come to be is unchanged. And the outcomes—simplistic, unedifying, disaster-driven, victim-centered stories—are the major results.
Throughout the book, she advocates that changing the storyteller to local journalists, providing them with a byline, coaching them, and translating the stories to where they belong shall redefine international news to make it more accurate and truthful. She also exposes the loopholes brought by parachute journalism. While doing so, she gives examples from globally noted news agencies and outlets. Cristi mentions that Global Press’s report, developed in partnership with Goodwin Simon Strategic Research, showed that there were significant demands among large sections of the US population for higher-quality international news, and a majority said hearing more from local journalists was a key way international coverage could improve.
Cristi also discusses laptop journalism and how it can serve only to break the news or inform for speed and is unreliable for thorough, accurate reporting. Cristi’s strategy for reporting emphasizes accuracy and proximity, which is lacking in major international news agencies. She also concludes that while parachute journalism can offer drama and laptop journalism can provide speed, events occurring in most of the world rarely receive thorough, long-term, comprehensive coverage.
She gives in-depth examples of how international news reports are sensationalized over accuracy. She provides an example of CNN's coverage of Nepal’s 2015 earthquakes, which was inaccurate, dramatic, shocking, and awful for Nepali people. It was unprofessional on the part of CNN to not mention anything about the corrections later. Cristi reinforces that the reality of our world today requires us to understand people and places more completely. “And to do that, we need storytellers who can help us understand that the world is more than disaster and starvation. We need reporters with access to stories about innovation, technology and progress,” she says.
Cristi is vocal about the dark realities of her journalism career. She shares that journalism around the world is worse. Journalists are often so underemployed that they are forced to resort to “brown envelope” journalism—accepting bribes to cover stories favorably because salaries are too low to survive. The book also reveals the insecurities faced by local journalists and how there is a lack of parity between foreign and local reporters. She shares that not only do local reporters put their safety on the line, but they are also often asked to put aside their journalistic credentials and ambitions and do most of the work on a piece while receiving little or no credit. My own reading of The New York Times’ reports on Nepal shows that Nepali reporters are usually not given a byline and are only given little credit as a contributor, whereas the credit is taken by some European or distant reporter who is not proximate with the sources or the place where the events have occurred.
In the Chapter “Listen to the Audience,” Cristi shares that the report she co-authored with Global Press COO Laxmi Parthasarathy has the findings as such. “First, US audiences prefer reading stories about international communities written by local journalists from those communities, rather than by parachute journalists. Second, they value international reporting that is dignified, precise, and avoids tropes and stereotypes. Third, they are hungry for comprehensive coverage that includes historical contexts and reporting on solutions as well as more serious topics like human rights and climate change.”
Throughout the book, Cristi conveys crucial messages to the journalism industry at large. She advocates for allowing local journalists to take the lead, pointing out that mainstream media has often hindered local journalists in global locations from reporting the stories of their communities on a large scale. She underscores a solution to the challenges facing modern journalism by advocating for giving local journalists the byline. Additionally, she articulates the significance of utilizing the most proximate reporter, emphasizing that proximity not only expedites story delivery but also ensures superior reporting and greater accuracy.
In the book, Cristi shares her perspectives on why every piece should be accessible in the community where it was reported, in the local language of the place. She highlights the importance of local residents being informed about the news stories published, a challenge often hindered by language barriers and the exclusive use of English by international media outlets. She contends that by publishing in local news outlets and in local languages, residents can be better informed, enabling them to take appropriate precautions to protect themselves.
The book also discusses safety measures that should be provided to local journalists. She gives examples from her own non-profit Global Press regarding why it is important and how it can be foreseen and arranged.
Byline is a great book to understand global media dynamics and how the solutions presented in the book, along with vivid examples, work great to shape modern journalism as objectively required.
