About Us
Andalusia K. Soloff, Alicia Fernández and Vania Pigeonutt at the International Journalism Festival 2022 at Perugia, Italy, giving a talk about the project I Photo: Alessandro Migliardi #IJF22
‘Fixing Journalism’ is a project that seeks to change the dynamics Unequal in international journalism, where journalists mostly from the Global North hire journalists from the Global South, to be fixers, many times without decent pay and without credit.
We seek to vindicate the work of the fixer, in journalism, recognizing the essential role it plays in international reporting. On our site you will find a guide to hire someone as a fixer or local producer in a fair way, recommendations to start working as a fixer, and also testimonials from Mexican journalists and Mexicans who have worked as a fixer.
As part of this Fixing Journalism project, we’ve worked with dozens of local journalists, fixers, and producers across the country to strategize on how to improve the relationship between foreign and domestic correspondents and the local people they hire to report their stories. We found that the majority of Mexican journalists who have worked as fixers never received credit for their contributions, and that a small percentage had inadvertently worked as fixers and received no compensation beyond a complimentary coffee or meal.
Recognizing that Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to practice journalism, we are concerned to learn that many times it is the same fellow journalists who put the safety of Mexican journalists at risk by not complying with their recommendations when they are hired. On the pages of this site you will be able to read the testimonies of the journalists who are behind the most relevant reports that have been published from Mexico in recent years.
We are hopeful that we can influence (or have an impact) on a global scale to change these unequal dynamics and elevate Mexican journalism. Let’s hope that foreign correspondents will stop seeing local journalists in Mexico or any part of the world, Latin America, Africa and Asia only as fixers and start seeing them as collaborators who can enrich and diversify journalism at an international level.
General Coordinators of Fixing Journalism:
Alicia Fernández y Andalusia K. Soloff
Researcher and writer: Vania Pigeonutt
Illustrator: Dante Aguilera
Editor and translator: Gustavo Martínez Contreras
Inclusive language advisor: Ana Alicia Osorio
Guide writer and coordinator: Andalusia K. Soloff
Guide designer: Eduardo Chávez
Website coordinator and editor: Alicia Fernández
Website designer: Regina García
Programmer: Raúl Granados
Administrator: Analy Nuño
