"In this phase of our research on charity advertising, we aimed to examine how INGOs represent distant others in direct mail communications compared to newspaper advertisements, building on findings from earlier studies. While the direct mail format offers greater potential for nuanced storytelling,
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our analysis reveals both continuity and emerging shifts in the dynamics of charity advertising, underscoring the complexities of this medium.
Positive developments include an increased attribution of images to their creators, a practice that will gain significance as AI-generated content becomes more common. Additionally, the decline in pitiful imagery in direct mail compared to newspaper advertisements signals progress toward more ethical representation. These trends highlight incremental yet noteworthy changes in visual storytelling.
However, the continued overrepresentation of Africa across direct mail and newspaper advertisements raises critical questions about the motivations and strategies driving charity communications. This trend suggests a potential disconnect between visual narratives and operational realities, warranting deeper scholarly exploration. Similarly, the persistent focus on health as the dominant subject matter—often at the expense
of narratives on education, economic infrastructure, or capacity-building—highlights the emphasis on short-term relief over long-term development.
Thus, while there is evidence of progress, charities must strive to balance their visual narratives against operational realities. The necessary shifts highlighted will require significant overhaul at strategic levels but are vital not only for fostering a more informed and engaged donor public but also for advancing ethical and equitable representations of development and the Majority World." (Conclusion, page 22)
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"This study investigates some of the communicative practices displayed by readers of vertically scrolling digital comics known as webtoons. A big-data emotion detection technique is used to identify, categorize, and analyze the contents of more than 14 million comments posted during the first year o
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f the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors explore the technical affordances of the self-publishing CANVAS section of the Webtoons.com site to demonstrate how an expanding cohort of readers use CANVAS as a chamber for communicating feelings, sharing commiserations, and offering collegial support. In so doing, they contribute to the improvement of participants’ well-being and differentiate themselves from other digital platform users who comment solely on stories, characters, and aesthetics. As such, their parasocial interaction transforms the webtoon format, which has yet to be fully investigated, into a communication platform where the “co-creating engagement” of readers generates a sense of intimacy at a distance. The conclusion highlights theoretical implications surrounding this communal digital technology of the self in the context of artificial intelligence." (Abstract)
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"This concise and authoritative work offers the latest guidance on journalism ethics for students and media professionals and will help empower news consumers to make informed decisions about the trustworthiness of their sources of information. It offers advice on all aspects of journalism ethics in
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cluding accuracy and seeking the truth, representation of women, LGBTQ coverage, climate change, mental health, use of images, conflict reporting, elections, and how to use artificial intelligence. The author brings a unique perspective and depth of knowledge to the complex challenges facing journalists and news consumers in this era of fake news, disinformation, and artificial intelligence." (Publisher description)
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"Das neue umfassende Standardwerk für den Bereich der Digitalen Ethik. Das Handbuch verschafft einen Überblick über die Herausforderungen und Besonderheiten der Ethik im digitalen Raum und versammelt namhafte Expert:innen zu folgenden Themenfeldern: Theoretische Zugänge (Deontologische Ansätze,
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Narrative Ethik, Trans- und posthumane Ansätze u.a.m.); Werte der Digitalen Ethik (Gerechtigkeit, Autonomie, Privatheit u.a.m.); Diskurse (Benachteiligung, Überwachung, Datenschutz u.a.m.); Praxisfelder (Kommunikation, Gaming, Lernen und Bildung u.a.m.)." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Aid organizations, activists, and the media often use graphic depictions of human suffering to elicit sympathy and aid. While effective, critics have condemned these practices as exploitative, objectifying, and deceptive, ultimately labeling them ‘poverty porn.’ This paper examines people's eth
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ical judgments of portrayals of poverty and the criticisms surrounding them, focusing on the context of charity advertising. In Studies 1 and 2, we find that tactics that have been decried as deceptive (i.e., using an actor or staging a photograph) are judged to be less acceptable than those that have been decried as exploitative and objectifying (i.e., depicting an aid recipient's worst moments). This pattern occurs both when evaluating the tactics themselves (Studies 1a-1c) and when directly evaluating critics' arguments about them (Study 2). Studies 3 and 4 unpack the objection to deceptive tactics and find that participants' chief concern is not about manipulating the audience's responses or about distorting perceptions of reality. Participants report less concern about non-deceptive manipulation (using emotion to compel donations) and ‘cherry-picked’ portrayals of poverty (an ad showing an extreme, but real image) so long as there is some truth to the portrayal. Yet they are more sensitive to artificial images (e.g., an actor posing as poor), even when the image resembles reality. Thus, ethical judgments hinge more on whether poverty portrayals are genuine than whether they are representative. This work represents the first empirical investigation into ethical judgments of poverty portrayals. In doing so, this work sheds light on how people make sense of morally questionable tactics that are used to promote social welfare and deepens our understanding of reactions to deception." (Abstract)
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"Die visuelle Kommunikation von Entwicklungsorganisationen ist geprägt von Spendenplakaten. Anhand einer eingängigen Bildsprache wird Aufmerksamkeit generiert. Mit einer postkolonialen Perspektive zeigt die Autorin auf, wie das vermittelte Afrikabild visuellen Stereotypen folgt, die bis in die Kol
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onialzeit zurückreichen. So werden Personen und Landschaften entsprechend tradierter Muster dargestellt und rassistisch geprägtes visuelles Wissen reproduziert. In der Analyse der Bildmaterialien wendet die Autorin die Methodologie der Diskursanalyse, und hierbei eine wissenssoziologische Perspektive an. Über das Zusammenspiel von Form und Inhalt arbeitet sie visuelle Repräsentationspraktiken und darin manifeste Wissensordnungen heraus." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"This work has highlighted the biased approaches in the use of imagery by those who hold power in global health. It is crucial to engage with these issues and to identify how we can work to treat individuals featured in global health imagery equitably, regardless of their circumstances, geography, r
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ace, gender, or socioeconomic status. The current narrative depicted within the imagery of infectious diseases reports in global health represents power imbalances driven by race, geography, and gender. This translates to women and children of colour that are based in low and middle income countries (LMICs) being treated with less dignity, respect, and power than those from high income countries (HICs). The absence of evidence of consent for using intrusive and unnecessary images, particularly of children in LMICs and often out of context to the narrative of the reports, is of particular concern." (Conclusions, page 163)
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"For photo and video journalists, the COVID-19 pandemic has raised difficult questions regarding how they show the grief of the victims and survivors, and the courage of medical workers to illustrate their stories and show the deadly impact of the virus, without exploiting grief and without insertin
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g themselves into crisis situations where they are not welcome. This guidance document examines the ethical issues of producing visual coverage of the pandemic and offers some rules journalists can follow to help ensure they do not cross the line from professionalism to sensationalism." (Publisher description)
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"As the production, content, and display of humanitarian images faced the requirements of digital media, humanitarian organizations struggled to keep equitable visual practices. Media specialists reflect on past and current uses of images in four Canadian agencies: the Canadian Red Cross, the Multic
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ultural Council of Saskatchewan, the World University Service of Canada, and IMPACT. Historically, the risk to reproduce the global inequalities they seek to remedy has compelled photographers, filmmakers and publicists in these agencies to develop codes of visual practice. In these conversations, they have shared the insights gained in transforming their work to accompany the rise of new digital technologies and social media. From one agency to the other, the lines of concern and of innovation converge. On the technical side, the officers speak of the advantage of telling personal stories, and of using short videos and infographics. On the organizational side, they have updated ways to develop skills in media production and visual literacy among workers, volunteers, partners, and recipients, at all levels of their activity. These interviews further reveal that Communications Officers share with historians a wish to collect, preserve, and tell past histories that acknowledge the role of all actors in the humanitarian sphere, as well as an immediate need to manage the abundance of visual documents with respect and method. To face these challenges, the five interviewees rely on democratic traditions of image-making: the trusted relationships, both with the Canadian public and with local peoples abroad, which have always informed the production and the content of visual assets. For this reason, humanitarian publicists might be in a privileged position to intervene in larger and urgent debates over the moral economy of the circulation of digital images in a globalized public space." (Abstract)
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"The book covers the definitions and uses of six philosophies, analytical methods, cultural awareness, visual reporting, documentary, citizen journalists, advertising, public relations, typography, graphic design, data visualizations, cartoons, motion pictures, television, computers and the web, aug
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mented and virtual reality, social media, the editing process, and the need for empathy. At the end of each are case studies for further analysis and interviews with thoughtful practitioners in each field of study, including Steven Heller and Nigel Holmes. This second edition has also been fully revised and updated throughout to reflect on the impact of new and emerging technologies." (Publisher description)
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"This fully updated second edition of the popular handbook provides an exploration of thinking on media ethics, bringing together the intellectual history of global mass media ethics over the past 40 years, summarising existing research and setting future agenda grounded in philosophy and social sci
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ence. This second edition offers up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of media ethics, including source ethics, social media, the roots of law in ethics, and documentary film. The wide range of contributors include scholars and former professionals who worked as journalists, public relations professionals, and advertising practitioners. They lay out both a good grounding from which to begin more in-depth and individualized explorations, and extensive bibliographies for each chapter to aid that process. For students and professionals who seek to understand and do the best work possible, this book will provide both insight and direction. Standing apart in its comprehensive coverage, the Handbook is required reading for scholars, graduate students, and researchers in media, mass communication, journalism, ethics, and related areas." (Publisher description)
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"Ethics and Integrity in Visual Research Methods aims to unpack the multiple considerations for ethics and integrity that accompany research methods involving visual data generation and analysis. This volume focuses on the media of photography and film. Contributing authors cover a variety of topics
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, including: consent and dignity when working with vulnerable and marginalized populations; the limitations of participatory methods within a context of inequity and postcolonialism; the challenges of anonymising visual data; and the risks of sharing visual data online. The authors share their experiences of working with visual methods across a range of contexts, making recommendations for best practice. This volume is intended to be practical, and the key messages aim to be concrete and applicable for anyone embarking on visual methods research." (Publisher description)
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"This handbook provides guidelines on the practice and ethics of participatory visual methods (PVM) with emphasis on their use in low and middle income countries (LMIC) for community and public engagement in health and health science. The guidelines are drawn from the hands-on experience of the auth
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ors and the insights they have gained as PVM practitioners working with these methodologies in LMIC for 10 years or more. The handbook has been developed for use by engagement practitioners who are relatively new to the field of PVM and want to learn more about what they are and how to work with them. It also aims to support health science researchers who wish to include visual methods when engaging local communities and wider publics in their work. The handbook does not explore the theory behind PVM or provide an in-depth review of the literature. For each method that is described the pioneering work in the field is cited, along with other suggested reading, should you wish to learn more." (Foreword)
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"1. The current use of imagery, particularly photography, in the anti-slavery movement risks harming anti-slavery efforts and survivors through misinformation and re-exploitation [...] 2. In order to utilise photography effectively and ethically, organisations looking to generate or use photography
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should seek out practices which incorporate survivor voice and perspective [...] 3. Participatory photography is an ideal methodology for creating original and impactful imagery. 4. Informed consent should be a priority in anti-slavery imagery [...] 5. Creativity and originality are vital when generating survivor imagery." (Summary of findings)
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"From Christian missionary publications to the media strategies employed by today’s NGOs, this interdisciplinary collection explores the entangled histories of humanitarianism and media. It traces the emergence of humanitarian imagery in the West and investigates how the meanings of suffering and
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aid have been constructed in a period of evolving mass communication, demonstrating the extent to which many seemingly new phenomena in fact have long historical legacies. Ultimately, the critical histories collected here help to challenge existing asymmetries and help those who advocate a new cosmopolitan consciousness recognizing the dignity and rights of others." (Publisher description)
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"The ninth edition of Media Ethics: Issues and Cases has been updated to reflect the most pressing ethical issues in media. Featuring 25 new cases on hot topic issues from fake news to drones and a new chapter on social justice, this authoritative case book gives students the tools to make ethical d
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ecisions in an increasingly complex environment." (Publisher description)
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"This ethnography uses the Syrian case to reflect more broadly on how the networked age reshapes contemporary warfare and impacts on the enactment of violence through images and on images. In stark contrast to the techno-utopias celebrating digital democracy and participatory cultures, Donatella Del
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la Ratta’s analysis exposes the dark side of online practices, where visual regimes of representation and media production dramatically intertwine with modes of destruction and the performance of violence." (Publisher description)
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"Visual Imagery and Human Rights Practice examines the interplay between images and human rights, addressing how, when, and to what ends visuals are becoming a more central means through which human rights claims receive recognition and restitution. The collection argues that accounting for how imag
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es work on their own terms is an ever more important epistemological project for fostering the imaginative scope of human rights and its purchase on reality. Interdisciplinary in nature, this timely volume brings together voices of scholars and practitioners from around the world, making a valuable contribution to the study of media and human rights while tackling the growing role of visuals across cultural, social, political and legal structures." (Publisher description)
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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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