ABSTRACT
The foreign news is covered in various ways (Hess, 1996; Wu & Hamilton, 2004), but what distinguishes foreign correspondents from their colleagues is that they, to an extent, feel more independent compared to their colleagues. According to the results of a survey conducted by Yu and Luter, correspondents themselves suggested an average of 80 per cent of the stories they produced. Only about 20 per cent of the stories were suggested or requested by the home offices (1964, p. 6). In the past years, the foreign correspondents’ autonomy has been significantly shortened, especially for those who work for TV networks. Recent studies have indicated that producers, not correspondents, determine ‘what is news’ (Foote, 2005). In other words, if the correspondents fail to absorb the ‘organizational culture’ of the media they work for, they face the risk of not seeing their stories published or, even worse, of losing their jobs.
