"Science journalism faces an issue that is part of a bigger picture of media change. The economic pressures which have seen shrinking resources available for reporting news are contrasted by the relentless rise of corporate communication and public relations. Institutional science communication has
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become a booming industry, operating, at least partially, by bypassing the traditional roles of journalists. To interrogate how science journalists perceive the impact of these changes on their professional roles, as well as how they navigate relationships with scientists and institutional science communicators, we conducted in-depth interviews with experienced South African science journalists. Our paper summarises the results of this study, including how journalists perceive changes in their professional identities and responsibilities. We analyse the interview data and explore the extent to which science journalists perceive themselves as “cheerleaders” for science, in contrast to critical investigators tasked with holding science and scientists to account, as well as how they operate in a world of well-endowed corporate science communication. We situate these interview findings against the theoretical background of boundary work and recent discussions about the blurring boundaries between science journalism and science communication." (Abstract)
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"In this moment of unprecedented humanitarian crises, the representations of global disasters are increasingly common media themes around the world. The Routledge Companion to Media and Humanitarian Action explores the interconnections between media, old and new, and the humanitarian challenges that
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have come to define the twenty-first century. Contributors, including media professionals and experts in humanitarian affairs, grapple with what kinds of media language, discourse, terms, and campaigns can offer enough context and background knowledge to nurture informed global citizens. Case studies of media practices, content analysis and evaluation of media coverage, and representations of humanitarian emergencies and affairs offer further insight into the ways in which strategic communications are designed and implemented in field of humanitarian action." (Publisher description)
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"Suzanne Franks discusses how the visually dominated storytelling of famines in Africa distorted the causes of famine and therefore obscured the most effective solutions. As journalists struggled
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to document the depths of human suffering, humanitarian communication in these early stages raised compassion, concern, and actions of all sorts, but also helped to extend the conflicts and misled global publics by offering simple explanations for complex circumstances. In addition, it left in its wake a legacy, and a visual convention of stereotypic imagery, of The Starving African; anonymous, vulnerable, powerless, and forever waiting for food from the West." (Introduction to part 4, page 186)
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"Africa’s Media Image in the 21st Century is the first book in over twenty years to examine the international media’s coverage of sub-Saharan Africa. It brings together leading researchers and prominent journalists to explore representation of the continent, and the production of that image, esp
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ecially by international news media. The book highlights factors that have transformed the global media system, changing whose perspectives are told and the forms of media that empower new voices. Case studies consider questions such as: how has new media changed whose views are represented? Does Chinese or diaspora media offer alternative perspectives for viewing the continent? How do foreign correspondents interact with their audiences in a social media age? What is the contemporary role of charity groups and PR firms in shaping news content? They also examine how recent high profile events and issues been covered by the international media, from the Ebola crisis, and Boko Haram to debates surrounding the "Africa Rising" narrative and neo-imperialism. The book makes a substantial contribution by moving the academic discussion beyond the traditional critiques of journalistic stereotyping, Afro-pessimism, and ‘darkest Africa’ news coverage. It explores the news outlets, international power dynamics, and technologies that shape and reshape the contemporary image of Africa and Africans in journalism and global culture." (Publisher description)
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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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"The media reporting of the Ethiopian Famine in 1984-5 was an iconic news event. It is widely believed to have had an unprecedented impact, challenging perceptions of Africa and mobilising public opinion and philanthropic action in a dramatic new way. The contemporary international configuration of
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aid, media pressure, and official policy is still directly affected and sometimes distorted by what was - as this narrative shows - also an inaccurate and misleading story. In popular memory, the reporting of Ethiopia and the resulting humanitarian intervention were a great success. Yet alternative interpretations give a radically different picture of misleading journalism and an aid effort which did more harm than good. Using privileged access to BBC and Government archives, Reporting Disasters examines and reveals the internal factors which drove BBC news and offers a rare case study of how the media can affect public opinion and policymaking. It constructs the process that accounts for the immensity of the news event, following the response at the heart of government to the pressure of public opinion. And it shows that while the reporting and the altruistic festival that it produced triggered remarkable and identifiable changes, the on-going impact was not what the conventional account claims it to have been." (Publisher description)
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"Using exclusive access to the BBC archive, the article examines how and why media coverage of Africa has been misleading and misinformed in the postcolonial period. It examines the extent to which the close relationship between media coverage and aid agencies has damaged the cause of informing the
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public. Aid agencies have seen a huge growth since the mid-1980s – partly precipitated by the power of media imagery. As media organizations have reduced their commitment to investing in reporting on Africa so journalists have in turn become more dependent upon aid agencies, which have filled a vacuum. This symbiotic relationship requires a degree of transparency otherwise there is a danger that it can compromise journalistic accountability." (Abstract)
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"This special volume is devoted to a selection of papers from the many that were presented at the ‘Reporting Zimbabwe: Before and After 2000 Conference’ held on 25th February 2005 at London’s Stanhope Centre, as part of the Africa Media Series organized by the University of Westminster’s Com
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munication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI). The appetite for Zimbabwean news is demonstrated by, for example, evidence presented at the conference which showed that of 48 documentaries shown on BBC from November 2000 to January 2004, Zimbabwe received the second most attention, with 7 documentaries. Zimbabwe came after the Israel/Palestine conflict which was covered by 16 documentaries. Zimbabwe came to dominate headlines in various UK and global media. Zimbabwe had become such major global news story at the start of the new millennium, 1999- 2005. The idea was to critically evaluate and investigate the ways in which local and global mass media were depicting the events in troubled Zimbabwe, a former British colony that obtained independence in 1980. Attended by over 100 delegates from different countries and continents, the conference succeeded in bringing together critical interdisciplinary analyses of the role of the mass media in the ongoing democratic and social- justice struggles in today’s Zimbabwe. The various papers presented at the conference, and those in this volume, dealt with diverse themes ranging from the rise of patriotic journalism in Zimbabwe and media freedom struggles to the definition, character and representation of the ‘land issue’, and more broadly the ‘Zimbabwe crisis’ in African and international media. The participants included British and Zimbabwean politicians, government officials, students, journalists, academics, activists, civic groups and members of the Britain- Zimbabwe Society (BZS)." (Editorial abstract)
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