"Across the board, respondents called for NGOs to diversify their strategies. As well as children, they wanted to see images of parents and grandparents, local development workers and doctors, for example. They highlighted the importance of maintaining the dignity of the individuals portrayed, espec
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ially when depicting children and called for more sharing of stories to give those presented in images identity and agency. Respondents also talked about where they would draw the line, and many agreed that images of nudity and violence should not be used. It was also clear that some images that are used by INGOs to get a specific message across – for example the image of an older African man drinking beer – may get lost in translation when viewed by a person in a completely different context." (Conclusions)
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"Closely examining the relationship between foreign correspondents of international news media and humanitarian organisations, Lena von Naso shows how the aid and media sectors cooperate in Africa in a unique way. Based on more than 70 interviews with foreign correspondents and aid workers operating
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across Africa, the book argues that the changing nature of foreign news and of aid is forcing them to form a deep co-dependency that is having a serious and largely unnoticed effect on Western news coverage." (Publisher description)
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"International development stakeholders harness communication with two broad purposes: to do good, via communication for development and media assistance, and to communicate do-gooding, via public relations and information. This book unpacks various ways in which different efforts to do good are com
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bined with attempts to look good, be it in the eyes of donor constituencies at large, or among more specific audiences, such as journalists or intra-agency decision-makers. Development communication studies have tended to focus primarily on interventions aimed at doing good among recipients, at the expense of examining the extent to which promotion and reputation management are elements of those practices. This book establishes the importance of interrogating the tensions generated by overlapping uses of communication to do good and to look good within international development cooperation." (Publisher description)
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"This communication manual provides guidance and advice on how to carry out information and publicity activities by the Privatisation Commission of Pakistan. The manual [...] provides advice on communication planning, event management including information dissemination and outreach to both traditio
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nal and digital media. This manual should be used by every staff member, who is directly involved in the development, delivery and management of the Privatisation program. By using this communication guide, Privatisation Commission staff members will be able to carry out communication in a strategic manner, which will actively and openly promote the activities and results of the Privatisation program." (Page 2)
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"This chapter has outlined the philosophical motivations and strategic practices of philanthrocapitalists, interrogating the key place of communication technology and media storytelling within their humanitarian activities. It also explored the central critiques of philanthrocapitalism that have eme
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rged in response, suggesting that oppositional narratives have played only a minor role in public sphere debates. Fundamentally, philanthrocapitalists have recognized the key role that advocacy plays in setting the agenda of media, policymakers, and the public, cultivating a number of powerful tools to ensure that the stones that get the most attention are those that reflect their own priorities and strategies for humanitarian action. Indeed, at a time when approximately 63 percent of Americans get their news from Facebook, the philanthrocapitalist agenda of the newly created Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative might have the best media platform yet to shape and measure the perspectives of the public. Looking forward, it seems that some balance is needed between recognizing the good work that these philanthrocapitalists can achieve, on one hand, while having opportunities to hold them accountable and propose alternative solutions, on the other." (Conclusion)
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"Drawing on an original UK-wide study of public responses to humanitarian issues and how NGOs communicate them, this timely book provides the first evidence-based psychosocial account of how and why people respond or not to messages about distant suffering. The book highlights what NGOs seek to achi
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eve in their communications and explores how their approach and hopes match or not what the public want, think and feel about distant suffering." (Publisher description)
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"Matthias Kuhnert geht der Frage nach, wie zivilgesellschaftliche Gruppen bei der Bevölkerung um Unterstützung für ihre Tätigkeit warben. Am Beispiel zweier britischer NGOs, War on Want und Christian Aid, wird deutlich, welche Emotionen humanitäre Organisationen einsetzten, um ihre Botschaften
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zu vermitteln und Hilfsbereitschaft zu generieren. Durch den Vergleich christlicher und linker Organisationen kann der Autor zeigen, dass sich mit dem Wandel des Humanitarismus in der Nachkriegszeit nicht nur die Art und Weise humanitären und entwicklungspolitischen Engagements, sondern auch die emotionale Dimension humanitären Handelns veränderte. Zum ersten Mal liegt nun eine Untersuchung über die Transformation humanitären Engagements von der Nachkriegszeit bis Anfang der 1990er Jahre vor, die emotions- und wissensgeschichtliche Ansätze verbindet." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Development institutions communicate about development through mediated communication strategies. The advent of image-intensive digital spaces such as Instagram has facilitated communication for these institutions, making ‘development’ more accessible to the public. However, the representation
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of development in these institutional digital spaces remains largely unexamined. By conceptualising Instagram as an emerging context for the ‘public face of development’, we conducted a content analysis of 300 Instagram posts by three major bilateral development agencies (USAID, DFID, and SIDA) in order to address critical questions concerning how they communicated about development agendas, subjects, and processes of development to the public. The study reveals that these representations of development in digital space largely adhere to feminised and infantilised visions of ‘ideal victimhood’ when projecting ‘what’ and ‘who’ should receive attention. These representations thus served to justify the Western-centred, neoliberal modes of development. Overall, these agencies’ communicative patterns regarding ‘how development can be achieved’ articulate perspectives on development to ‘look-good’ at home and ‘do-good’ abroad that make social change seem readily achievable." (Abstract)
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"Das berüchtigte Bild des hungernden, nackten, ungeschützten Kindes ist ein Leitmotiv in der humanitären Hilfe, das bis heute kollektive und individuelle Vorstellungswelten im Globalen Norden formt. Die Bilderwelten, die die Krisen im Globalen Süden porträtieren, sind geprägt von einer kolonia
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len Kontinuität. Die Körper von Schwarzen Menschen und Menschen of Color werden in passiven, leidenden, abhängigen Positionen gezeigt und auf diese reduziert. Die Darstellungen sind allerdings nur die 'Spitze des Eisbergs': Die Bilder drücken im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes plakativ ein Verhältnis von Machtungleichheit aus, das nicht nur die Spendenwerbung, sondern auch die Strukturen von Entwicklungszusammenarbeit und vielen anderen Bereichen prägt. Aus unterschiedlichen Positionen, Gruppen und Organisationen kamen Anstöße zu einer Auseinandersetzung mit Spendenwerbung und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit von Hilfsorganisationen. Beispielsweise haben ISD und glokal in den letzten Jahren ein vielfältiges Programm aus Workshops, öffentlichen Interventionen und Projekten wie den Dokumentarfilm white charity (whitecharity.de) entwickelt, um einen Prozess der Sensibilisierung und des Verlernens anzustoßen. Hier stand jedoch erstens Kritik im Vordergrund, zweitens blieb die Diskussion eher szene-intern auf entwicklungspolitische Akteur_innen beschränkt. Mit dem Projekt (De-)koloniale Bilderwelten wollten wir einen Schritt weitergehen, indem wir die Künstler_innen Rajkamal Kahlon, Isaiah Lopaz und Lena Ziyal dazu eingeladen haben, alternative Werbeplakate zu entwerfen. Diese wurden auf Plakatwänden an zentralen Plätzen im öffentlichen Raum Berlins gezeigt. Außer den künstlerischen Beiträgen dieses Projekts versammelt die Publikation zudem die Stimmen und Gegenentwürfe von Aktivist_innen, Wissenschaftler_innen und Künstler_innen." (Vorwort)
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"Debates about the visual representations of global poverty have been going on for many years, yet the experiences and views of those featured have been notably absent. 'The People in the Pictures' addresses that gap. Save the Children commissioned research in the UK, Jordan, Bangladesh and Niger, t
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o listen to and learn from those who contribute their images and stories, as well as members of their communities. The research explored: what motivated people to agree to Save the Children filming or photographing them or their children; how people experienced and perceived the image-making process; how people felt about their portrayal in the resulting Save the Children communications. The research highlighted many areas of good practice, as well as some concerns and challenges. It has resulted in a set of recommendations to embed greater agency and accountability for contributors into Save the Children’s image making." (Back cover)
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"This book examines what the diverse roster of celebrity humanitarians are actually doing in and across North and South contexts. Celebrity humanitarianism is an effective lens for viewing the multiple and diverse relationships that constitute the links between North and South. New empirical finding
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s on celebrity humanitarianism on the ground in Thailand, Malawi, Bangladesh, South Africa, China, Haiti, Congo, US, Denmark and Australia illustrate the impact of celebrity humanitarianism in the Global South and celebritization, participation and democratization in the donor North. By investigating one of the most mediatized and distant representations of humanitarianism (the celebrity intervention) from a perspective of contextualization, the book underscores the importance of context in international development." (Publisher description)
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"After the ‘CNN effect’ concept was coined two decades ago, it quickly became a popular shorthand to understand media-conflict interactions. Although the connection has probably always been more complex than what was captured in the concept, research needs to be updated in order to better unders
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tand the multifaceted contemporary environments of both media and conflict. There are growing numbers and types of media sources, and multiple interactions between media and conflict actors, policymakers and engaged publics from the local to the global and back. We argue that understanding the impact of media reporting on conflict requires a new framework that captures the multilevel and hybrid media environments of contemporary conflicts. This study provides a roadmap of how to systematically unpack this environment. It describes and explains how different levels, interactions, and forms of news reporting shape conflicts and peacebuilding in local, national and regional contexts, and how international responses interact with multiple media narratives. With these tools, comprehensive understandings of contemporary local to global media interactions can be incorporated into new research on media and conflict." (Abstract)
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"This study examines whether changes in the media, political, and civic landscapes give leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) increased news access. Using longitudinal content analysis (1990-2010) of a purposive sample of US news outlets, it compares the prevalence, prominence, and story loc
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ation of news articles citing leading human rights NGOs to human rights coverage more generally. In all outlets, NGO prevalence rises over time; media-savvy NGOs drive much of the growth. By contrast, prominence decreases, as do the number of NGO-driven stories. In all outlets, NGOs typically appear in stories already in the media spotlight; as sources, they appear after the statements of government officials. Finally, the news outlets most receptive to NGOs are those that commit the fewest resources to international news coverage. Overall, findings suggest that while NGO news access has indeed increased over time, such access continues to be shaped by established patterns of news construction." (Abstract)
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"This article is a historical examination of the use of photography in the informational and fundraising strategies of humanitarian organizations. Drawing on archival research and recent scholarship, it shows that the figure of the dead or suffering child has been a centrepiece of humanitarian campa
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igns for over a century and suggests that in earlier eras too, such photos, under certain conditions, could “go viral” and achieve iconic status. Opening with last year’s photo campaign involving the case of 3-year-old Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi, whose body washed up on a Turkish beach near Bodrum in early September 2015, the article draws on select historical examples to explore continuities and ruptures in the narrative framing and emotional address of photos depicting dead or suffering children, and in the ethically and politically charged decisions by NGO actors and the media to publish and distribute such images. We propose that today, as in the past, the relationship between media and humanitarian NGOs remains symbiotic despite contemporary claims about the revolutionary role of new visual technologies and social media." (Abstract)
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"In contrast to the contemporary media perception the government aid provided to Ethiopia was pretty much existing money that was reconfigured and, despite appearances, there was no ‘new money’. The UK Government rejected any longer term ongoing engagement and was just concerned with short-term
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emergency relief, appearing to be generous in reaction to disturbing media images. Furthermore Ministers were concerned that the relief that was provided (airdrops of food by RAF planes) should garner the maximum possible domestic political benefit and reap the best political dividend vis-à-vis Cold War adversaries. It is apparent from this analysis that the ability of the media coverage to produce change in official policy and official assistance was less apparent than might first have appeared. Ultimately the impact of the coverage was far more significant upon driving public opinion and (with the advent of Band Aid) in the way it changed the nature of charitable giving and private philanthropy. So that in terms of policy effects the media on this occasion appears to have a greater effect upon the policies and institutions of the voluntary sector and NGOs. If the 1980s is considered the ‘decade of the NGO’, then the response to the media coverage of Ethiopia played a key part in this expansion. Thus, we can see that in response to the media coverage of the Ethiopian famine the ability of news coverage to push official policy was far less substantial than may have appeared at the time. When in successive academic debates the Ethiopian famine is considered historically as a case of a ‘strong CNN effect’ that is not strictly speaking true. Public policy did not shift as a result of powerful media coverage of suffering. Official humanitarian assistance was severely limited and there was no change of heart about development aid." (Conclusions)
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"Every photography subject deserves to be treated as an autonomous human being, capable of making independent decisions. In case of children, we also need to ensure their parents’ consent. We need to be constantly aware of our position in the power hierarchy — in the development world, in many c
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ases, we control the subject’s access to money, schooling, opportunities, and even fun. So they may defer to us by default, and it is our responsibility to not take advantage of this. It is our duty to protect the subjects from harm, and to ensure they enjoy every possible benefit of participating in our activity." (Page 8)
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"International non-governmental organizations (INGOs) are known to employ freelancers to produce multimedia and to pitch it for them to mainstream news outlets. So it seems odd that research about the blurring of news organizations and INGOs has been largely focused upon the practices of full-time s
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taff at these kinds of organizations. To help fill this lacuna, this article constructs a model capable of interrogating the multiple forms of structure and agency at the heart of such forms of freelancing by blending Critical Realist theory with work by Bourdieu. It then uses this model to analyse semi-structured interviews with six freelancers who were involved in the production of media items about sub-Saharan countries. All of them were found to erode the distinction between INGOs and news organizations through different kinds of commissioning and syndication practices. But this article's main critical contribution lies in its efforts to illuminate why freelancers chose to engage in such liminal work; for the legitimating rationales they employed enabled them to avoid the “inter-role conflicts” experienced by freelancers who work for news outlets and commercial public relations organizations." (Abstract)
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"This paper explores the impact that emerging partnerships - particularly between freelancers and nonprofits - are having on the practices of contemporary foreign news reporting. Through an exploration of a widely published project on a health crisis in East Africa-funded by the Pulitzer Center on C
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risis Reporting and reported by the study's author-this study ultimately argues that issues of framing, representation, and ideology are not dominating foreign news production; they are being hotly contested within it. The importance of having a journalist on the ground and the urgency of "liveness", however, is argued to be losing significance within the current model, which often destines foreign news imagery to be decontextualized for universal appeal." (Abstract)
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