Parachute journalism is the practice of placing journalists into an area to report on a story in which the reporter has little knowledge or experience.
The lack of knowledge and tight
deadlines often result in inaccurate or distorted news reports, especially during breaking news. As opposed to expert foreign
correspondents
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...
who might live in the locale, news organizations will sometimes send (metaphorically by "parachute") either general assignment reporters or well-known celebrity journalists into unfamiliar areas.
The term is often used by critics, who argue that this type of journalism usually reports mere basic details and often misrepresents facts, while displaying ignorance of contextual issues. The journalist often lacks in-depth knowledge of the situation and usually is disoriented because of the strangeness of the environment. Often the only information immediately available is from other news organizations or from "official" or bureaucratic sources that may contain
propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
.
Journalists 'parachuted' into a strange situation often lack proper contacts. They may rely on
stringer
Stringer may refer to:
Structural elements
* Stringer (aircraft), or longeron, a strip of wood or metal to which the skin of an aircraft is fastened
* Stringer (slag), an inclusion, possibly leading to a defect, in cast metal
* Stringer (stairs), ...
s for their sources, and this can lead to strained relationships between the 'parachuter' and the stringer as the newly arrived journalist will receive most of the credit and in the process the quality of reporting can be affected.
Due to a lack of time and knowledge, background research and independent investigation of the events at the site of occurrence can be non-existent, with most research, if any, being done in the journalist's home country before they set off for the point of action. Another drawback is the tendency of parachuters to engage in
pack journalism
Pack journalism is the characterization of news reporting in which reporters from different news outlets collaborate to cover the same story, leaving news reporting homogeneous. This is the practice whereby reporters use the same sources of infor ...
.
One potential advantage of this type of journalism is that the parachuter is an outsider who may be able to look at the news event from a fresh perspective and notice things or provide an angle to the story that a stringer could have missed. He or she might be more likely to be able to pinpoint what a global audience will be interested in.
References
{{reflist
External links
We're Missing the Story–
Anjan Sundaram
Anjan Sundaram is an Indian author, journalist, academic, and television presenter. He is the author of three memoirs of journalism, ''Stringer'', ''Bad News'' and ''Breakup'', and has been called "one of the great reporters of our age" by the B ...
Journalism