Person who carries out assignments or solves problems for others
Afixer is someone who is assigned or contracted to solve problems for others. The term has different meanings in different contexts. InBritish usage (and in otherCommonwealth countries) the term is neutral, referring to a person, such as aspecial adviser, "who...gets things done".[1] Use inAmerican English implies that the methods used are of questionable morality and legality.[2]
In organized crime,cleaners removeincriminating physical evidence, including the disposal of bodies or witnesses. In sports, the term 'fixer' describes someone who makes arrangements tomanipulate or pre-arrange the outcome of a sporting contest. In journalism, a fixer is a local person who expedites the work of a foreigncorrespondent.
Fixers may primarily use legal means, such aslawsuits andpayoffs, to accomplish their ends, or they may carry out unlawful activities. TheWhite House Plumbers have been described as fixers forRichard Nixon; their methods includedbreak-ins and burglary.[3]Fixers who specialize in disposing of evidence or bodies are called "cleaners",[4] like the character of Victor "The Cleaner" in the filmLa Femme Nikita, or the fictional Jonathan Quinn, subject of theBrett Battles novelThe Cleaner.[5]
In Britain, a fixer is acommercial consultant for business improvement, whereas in an American context a fixer is often an associate of a powerful person who carries out difficult,undercover, or stealth actions, or extricates a client out of personal or legal trouble.[1][6] A fixer may freelance, likeJudy Smith, a well-known Americanpublic relations "crisis consultant" whose career provided inspiration for the popular 2012 television seriesScandal.[7] More commonly a fixer works for a single employer, under a title such as "attorney" or "bodyguard", which does not typically describe the kinds of services that they provide.
In Philippine English, fixer has a deep negative meaning where it refers to individuals who help give government clients a preferential priority or speedy processing in an agency for a price. Some also practise illegal activities such as swindling and selling fake IDs unbeknownst to the client. Because of their work, fixers have connections with government employees in the office they loiter around and give cuts to their partners inside. Fixers are typically found outside buildings of government agencies, particularly around manyLand Transportation Office field branches. Due to bribery and scamming, fixers are illegal under Philippine law and those caught are imprisoned for 6 years and fined up to 200,000 pesos.[8][9]
In journalism, a fixer is someone, often a local journalist, hired by a correspondent or a media company to help arrange a story. Fixers will often act as translators and guides, and help to arrange local interviews that the correspondent would otherwise not be able to access. They help collect information for the story and sometimes play a crucial role in the outcome.[13] Fixers are rarely credited, and often put themselves in danger, especially in regimes where they might face consequences from an oppressive government for exposing iniquities the state may want to censor.[14][15]
These aides are often the prime risk mitigators within a journalist's team, making crucial decisions for the reporter. According to journalist Laurie Few, "You don't have time not to listen (to the fixer)", and anybody who disregards a fixer's advice "is going to step on a landmine, figurative or actual".[16] Fixers have ranged from civilians to local journalists within regions of conflict. They are rarely credited and paid menially, which has begun a conversation for the compensation rights of these individuals. According to statistics gathered from theGlobal Investigative Journalism Network, the base pay for a fixer's time ranged from US$50–400 per day.[16]
A map based on publicly accessible research data shows a visual representation of data collected from various studies conducted on both fixers and their journalist counterparts from over 70 countries. Gathered from theGlobal Reporting Centre, the survey demographic map had 132 respondents from North America, 101 from Europe, 23 from South America, Africa andEurasia, 63 from Asia and 9 from Australia.[17]
Numerous films and several songs have been namedThe Fixer. As a genre, they illustrate the different meanings of the term. Most commonly, they refer to the kind of person who carries out illicit activities on behalf of someone else. For example, the 2008 British television seriesThe Fixer is about "arenegade group acting outside the law to bring order to the spiraling criminal activity in the country".[18]
The 1986 filmWise Guys featuresCaptain Lou Albano as Frankie "The Fixer" Acavano, an overweight, violent yet gluttonous psychopath who is tasked with tracking and killing the protagonists after ripping off their boss, Lou Castello, of a quarter of a million dollars in a fixed horse race.
The 1990 filmLa femme Nikita featuresJean Reno as a cleaner who is called in to kill everyone and destroy the bodies after a mission goes awry.
The 1994 filmPulp Fiction features Harvey Keitel as Winston Wolfe, a notorious fixer and cleaner, who helps the protagonists dispose of a corpse.[19]
The main antagonist of the 2000 novelVoid Moon is a near-psychotic fixer who cleans and investigates a murder in his employer's casino.
ABBC Two documentaryAlex Polizzi: The Fixer features a fixer in the benign British sense – a consultant who helps to turn around failing businesses.[20]
The 2000 bro-Western thrillerThe Way of the Gun has James Caan as a fixer known as Joe Sarno, a "Bagman".
The 2007 filmMichael Clayton starsGeorge Clooney as a fixer who works for a prestigious law firm and uses his connections and knowledge of legal loopholes to help his clients.[21]
In the ABC dramaScandal, the main characterOlivia Pope (portrayed byKerry Washington) was a fixer and head of Pope and Associates, a crisis management organization that fixed political scandals andcleaned up crimes. Kerry Washington's character,Olivia Pope, is partially based on formerGeorge H. W. Bush administration press aideJudy Smith, who serves as a co-executive producer.[22]
The TV SeriesSuits featuresHarvey Specter (played byGabriel Macht) as a New York's top lawyer for fixing clients' problems. It also features Steven Huntley as the fixer for Edward Darby in Season 3. Many other fixers are also prevalent across its nine seasons.
The TV seriesRay Donovan follows the eponymous character, played byLiev Schreiber, a LA-based fixer for celebrities. The character was inspired by a variety of Hollywood fixers such asEddie Mannix andFred Otash.[26]
The 2016Coen brothers' filmHail, Caesar!, satirizes the American film industry of the 1950s, and is very loosely inspired byEddie Mannix's career as a Hollywood studio executive and fixer.[27][28] In the film, actorJosh Brolin portrayed Mannix,[29] who is shown scrambling to quietly resolve the kidnapping of anA-listleading man, while battling to keep multiple thinly fictionalized send-ups of real Hollywood scandals of the era out of thetabloids. Behind it all, however, Mannix depicted as a devout, if sinful and unconventional,Roman Catholic family man with two children and a doting homemaker wife namedConnie Mannix (Alison Pill).
^Radyo Pilipinas (June 1, 2023). "Laban vs. fixers sa LTO, palalakasin ng pamahalaan".Radyo Pilipinas News (in Filipino). Philippine Broadcasting Service.{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|url= (help)
^Arjomand, Noah Amir (2022).Fixing Stories: Local Newsmaking and International Media in Turkey and Syria. Cambridge University Press.ISBN9781316518007.
