Simon Cottle and David Nolan: How the media’s codes and rules influence the ways NGOs work
[Even with the newfound publishing powers the Internet provides, most NGOs still rely on the traditional media to get their messages across. And that fact has led many to tailor those messages in ways they think might maximize their coverage. But that can be a dangerous game, leading humanitarian organizations away from their primary missions. In this essay — the second in our ongoing series on NGOs and the news — communication scholars Simon Cottle and David Nolan examine how the media's internal rules can color how organizations function. —Josh]
The practices and priorities of global reporting play a key role in determining whether humanitarian emergencies are routinely covered in the news, sensationalized as spectacular media events, or simply buried along with countless imageless victims in “forgotten emergencies” and “hidden wars.” Research and anecdotal evidence suggests that, in a competitive media environment informed by the pursuit of readers, ratings and revenue, the media spotlight is drawn selectively to images of distress rather than issues of structural disadvantage, and is apt to roam quickly from one disaster or emergency to another. Such fleeting coverage, at best, generally provides sparse context or historical background and even less follow-up coverage of post-conflict or post-emergency communities or longer term processes of development. In these respects, the news media lens is peculiarly insensitive to the distant suffering of others. Keep reading »
