Comments on: NGOs as newsmakers: A new series on the evolving news ecosystem

By: The Milton Wolf Seminar: NGOs, media, and diplomacy » Nieman Journalism Lab

The Milton Wolf Seminar: NGOs, media, and diplomacy » Nieman Journalism Lab — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:02:08 +0000

[...] with newspapers and TV cutting foreign bureaus and coverage abroad. As the introductory post asked: What happens when news making and journalistic functions are increasingly outsourced or claimed by [...]

By: NGOs as News Providers: Public Goods Journalism « Melissa Wall

NGOs as News Providers: Public Goods Journalism « Melissa Wall — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:05:08 +0000

[...] to Harvard’s Nieman Labs which, working with the University of Pennsylvania, has produced a series of essays about their groundbreaking new research on — you guessed it! — NGOs as news providers. [...]

By: NGOs and Journalism: Nieman Journalism Lab Explores the Blurry Lines of NGO-Produced Journalism | dvafoto

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:46:01 +0000

[...] NGOs as newsmakers: A new series on the evolving news ecosystem [...]

By: Arsen

Arsen — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:07:14 +0000

Interesting topic: to me, there is no way NGOs (advocacy or service providers, grassrroot community groups, etc.) can become news organisations. every morning i will keep going to the websited of newspapers for an overview. it is a different question that with the development of ITC NGO can have direct access to a larger audiences. yet one cannot say that this is good or bad. in some cases message that is communicated in a non professional way may impact the image of NGOs, so the new envionment requires NGOs new skills! from the other side, there is achange in the way traditional news organizaitons are operating – they are incresingly using the news content developed by NGOs and disseminated throuhg different social media. i believe the change is positive for both – NGOs and news organizaitons. well, of course for the final consumer too! yet this means that moth side shall start change their informaiton colleciton and dissemination startegies and skills to stay on the top.

By: Tweetlinks, 11-09-09 [A Blog Around The Clock] « Technology Blogs

Tweetlinks, 11-09-09 [A Blog Around The Clock] « Technology Blogs — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:12:25 +0000

[...] NGOs as newsmakers: A new series on the evolving news ecosystem [...]

By: rohanjay

rohanjay — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:12:17 +0000

I agree with mostmodernist, aren’t all independent media companies non-governmental organisations? Nobody here has any idea of what the term means, which is why the arguments laid out are such a mess.

Much is made in the accompanying piece of the US media’s cooperation with the International Crisis Group (ICG). The ICG is a fantastic organisation but it’s not an NGO. It’s a think tank with a very pro-active research department.

NGOs as the world understands them – and as they understand themselves – are advocacy groups. Even the aid agencies working the bloodiest ends of the world have an agenda to promote. They would ill serve the people they help if they didn’t try to turn the media behind their story, to win lifesaving resources and political attention.

It would make sense, especially if you hoped to stay alive, to work with an NGO like Save the Generation or Memorial in Chechnya. But if you can convince yourself that you can maintain a picture of independence whilst embedded with such committed and courageous advocates, for sure you won’t convince Russian officials.

Embedded is the key word here. All the advantages and disadvantages of embedding with a US army unit come with embedding with a NGO. I work for an NGO that is almost entirely staffed by journalists, and senior award winning ones at its top end to boot. But we are unashamably an advocacy group, and all the network journalists who pass my way in Iraq or Afghanistan get my organisation’s agenda along with useful leads, background and the disputed wisdom of my 30 years experience as a reporter.

NGOs are essential, invaluable media sources, not partners, not journalists (even when they are…). In any case, as your commentator points out, the NGOs are no happier with the prospect of having their complex and contextualised message filtered through corporate media’s simplification machinery.

Far more preferable – and in the age of social media, far more practicable – for the NGOs to spread the message themselves, directly, without relying on a US network with a coverage budget shortfall to do it for them. Watch for ICG’s channel on YouTube in a few years instead and leave ABC TV for Lost reruns.

By: Mostmodernist

Mostmodernist — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:24:03 +0000

I don’t get it. What is an NGO in the US? All media is NGO, except for USPS.

Does this topic speak strictly to media under dictatorships?

NGO is not synonymous for not-for-profit.