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Professional Experience, Role Perceptions and Image Production of Afghan Photojournalists Working for a Global Audience

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Professional Experience, Role Perceptions and Image Production of Afghan Photojournalists Working for a Global Audience Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 10-12-2017 11:00 AM Local-Global Tensions: Professional Experience, Role Perceptions and Image Production of Afghan Photojournalists Working for a Global Audience Saumava Mitra The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr Jacquie Burkell The University of Western Ontario Joint Supervisor Dr Susan Knabe The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Media Studies A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Saumava Mitra 2017 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Journalism Studies Commons Recommended Citation Mitra, Saumava, "Local-Global Tensions: Professional Experience, Role Perceptions and Image Production of Afghan Photojournalists Working for a Global Audience" (2017). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 4949. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4949 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract LOCAL-GLOBAL TENSIONS: PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE, ROLE PERCEPTIONS AND IMAGE PRODUCTION OF AFGHAN PHOTOJOURNALISTS WORKING FOR A GLOBAL AUDIENCE There is growing academic recognition of the role of local news-makers who produce news for a global audience. Existing research has focused on local journalists and fixers engaged in international news-making, but not local professional photojournalists. This thesis explores the work of local photojournalists in Afghanistan who produce images for a global audience in Afghanistan. Eighteen such Afghan photojournalists were interviewed. Through thematic analysis of the interview data, local-global tensions were located in the perceptions of the photojournalists regarding three aspects of their work – professional experiences, professional roles, and image production. Regarding the first, the Afghan photojournalists perceived that they faced more physical dangers, as well as other material and intangible disadvantages compared to international photojournalists. Regarding the second, the professional role perceptions of the respondents as producers of objective/aesthetic news images was found to be negotiated with their perceptions of being visual interlocutors of Afghanistan to the world. Regarding their image production, the photojournalists’ accounts showed both direct and indirect international influences on images they produce as well as local influences – their knowledge and familiarity to Afghanistan and identity as Afghans. In this context, the respondents perceived that international news media’s depictions of Afghanistan were biased towards image-subjects which, with one exception, do not match with image-subjects they would prefer to show to international audiences. To match these responses regarding image-subjects to actual images produced by Afghan photojournalists, the respondents’ preferences were compared with the image-subjects present in a purposive sample of images of Afghanistan produced by Afghan photojournalists for an international audience. The comparison showed that the respondents’ preferences largely corresponded with the image-subjects in the chosen sample. Based on all of these different findings, the thesis offers an overall understanding of the interplay of the local and the global in the Afghan local-global photojournalists’ perceptions of their work and images. Finally, the thesis discusses how this research adds to the growing body of academic research on the work of local news staff engaged in international news-making, especially of conflicts, and avenues for future research in this area are outlined. Keywords International News, Afghanistan, Photojournalism, Foreign Correspondents, Local Foreign Correspondents, Conflict News, War Photography. ii Acknowledgments I thank my supervisors Dr. Jacquie Burkell, Dr. Susan Knabe, and Dr. Amanda Grzyb for their guidance and patience as I figured out how to present my research in this thesis. The research I present in this thesis began as a day-dream in 2009 as my mind drifted away from the lecture in a classroom at the Oost-Indisch Huis building of the University of Amsterdam. Since then many have contributed to making this day-dream a reality. Above all, I thank my parents Shampa Mitra and Uday Krishna Mitra for unconditionally believing in me for about three decades and a bit now, even though it’s always getting rather incredulous. Also my brother Kaustav Mitra for worrying about me (when he didn’t need to). And I thank: Those who offered friendship, understanding, help, advice, and support without a second thought (in the rough order of appearance): Soma Ray (for all her love all these years), Aritra Dutta, Anandaroop Sen, Aritra Kundu, and Samrat Roychowdhury (even when it’s my fault, you take my side, against reason or qualms), Sunayani Bhattacharya (for listening to me moan and groan like a true comrade always), Aniek Paul (for pearls of practical wisdom), Johannes von Engelhardt (for lending a friendly ear when needed), Julia Hoffmann (the file listing the reasons is still open), Lara Mazurski (for sharing thoughts and words that matter), Dipanjan Laha and Raka Sarkhel (for shelter, good food, companionship and conversation, twice!), Daniela Ingruber (for advice, sympathy, wisdom, shelter), Oscar Morera Herrera (for unquestioning friendship, that arroz con pulpa which saved my life, and yes, shelter), Swati Das (for making porotas for the midnight guest), Heather McDonald (for love, sympathy, prayers and soup-and-a-bed at the end of long train rides), Robert McDonald (for advice, sympathy, prayers and all the stories), Rosemary McDonald (for the love, hugs and cake), Donald McDonald (for all the pens!), Robert Fletcher (for the sane and sage advice), Tim Aqukkasuk Argetsinger (for the understated yet so important, friendship), Soumi Bhattacharya and Sediq Bezhan (for always being ready to help with languages). iii Those without whose help my time in Afghanistan would not have been possible (in the rough order of appearance): Michelle Betz, Susanna Inkinen, Dr. Najibullah Sharifi, Stephen Smith, Abdullah Sharifi, Nazira Babouri, and all members of Afghan Journalist Safety Committee and Afghan New Generation. Those men and women who gave me their time and patience and openness and told me about their life and work as photojournalists in Afghanistan and who, to my chagrin, must remain nameless here. Ba tashakor-e færavan, lotf darid. This thesis is dedicated to my friend, companion and wife. Since she asked me to join her to collect sea-shells on the Swahili Coast of the Indian Ocean, her love has sustained me through a journey over four continents, five countries and eight cities. Her support and strength was the bridge that spanned all chasms which opened up along the way. Twendeni make your day-dreams a reality now, Stephanie McDonald, my love. iv Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ i Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ v List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix List of Appendices ............................................................................................................. ix Preface................................................................................................................................. x Epigraph ............................................................................................................................ xii Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 International news flows: West-dominated or increasingly globalized? ................ 2 1.2 Shifting understanding of who produces international news from conflict zones .. 5 1.3 Local-global journalism: ‘a site of struggle’ ........................................................... 7 1.4 Local-global photojournalism: A practice acknowledged but not investigated.... 11 1.5 Areas of focus in current thesis within local-global photojournalism .................. 14 1.5.1 Local-global tensions in the professional experience of local-global photojournalists ......................................................................................... 14 1.5.2 Local-global tensions in professional role perceptions of local-global photojournalists ......................................................................................... 15 1.5.3 Local-global tensions within processes of image production ................... 17 1.5.4 From perceptions to images: possibilities of counter-flows? ................... 19 1.6 Post-2001 Afghanistan and the local-global Afghan photojournalists ................. 21 1.6.1 Media sector in post-2001 Afghanistan .................................................... 22 1.6.2 News media
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