‘Doing good’ and ‘looking good’ in global humanitarian reporting (Book chapter)
By Martin Scott (@martinscott2010). This chapter investigates if and how a private donor’s apparent motivation to ‘look good’ – or to generate symbolic capital – interacts with a news organization’s ability to ‘do good’ by producing public service content. We address this issue by reporting on the findings of a year-long study of the online […]
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Attitudes towards humanitarian news within the aid sector: Survey results
By Martin Scott (@martinscott2010). How do those involved with or interested in the aid sector view media coverage of humanitarian issues globally? What are their main sources of news and information and how useful do they find them? What impact, if any, does news coverage have on their work? We worked with IRIN News to […]
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Who are the intermediaries for international news? Five key questions answered
By Martin Scott (@martinscott2010). The role of non-profit intermediaries in supporting international news has been the subject of growing discussion recently. In January, the International Reporting Project (IRP) announced that it would be closing after 20 years. In an article for Columbia Journalism Review, IRP’s deputy director Glendora Meikle described this as a consequence of […]
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Does the Daily Mail’s criticism of aid matter?
By Martin Scott (@martinscott2010). Originally published on: the Guardian. In the wake of the UK General election result, the assumption that British newspapers have a significant influence over their reader’s voting behaviours is being challenged. The results of a recent YouGov poll found that a majority (52%) of Sun readers didn’t vote last week and […]
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Book Review: Caring in Crisis? Humanitarianism, the Public and NGOs
By Martin Scott (@martinscott2010). According to United Nations, the world is currently experiencing the largest humanitarian crisis since the end of the Second World War, with more than 20 million people facing starvation and famine. Given this, how do non-affected publics respond to images and information about such suffering and what shapes these responses? Whilst […]
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The influence of foundation funding on international journalism (Article)
By Martin Scott (@martinscott2010). How does donor funding affect the independence, role perceptions, and ideology of the journalism it supports? We begin to answer this increasingly important but under-researched question with a year-long case study of the humanitarian news organisation IRIN as it transitioned from being funded by the United Nations to a private foundation, […]
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The politics of humanitarian journalism (Book chapter)
By Martin Scott (@martinscott2010). In this chapter, we draw attention to the considerable gaps in our knowledge about humanitarian journalism. While there has been comprehensive research on the content of humanitarian news, an especially on the question of which crises receive coverage, there is limited scholarship on the production or reception of this journalism. In […]
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Why Humanosphere’s hibernation matters – and what we can do about it
By Martin Scott (@martinscott2010). Originally published on: www.humanosphere.org. On 1st July, Humanosphere is taking a break – possibly never to return. Since 2010, they have been reporting daily on global health, aid and development issues for both mainstream and ‘insider’ audiences. In recent years, Humanosphere had expanded its staff and scope, in part, to demonstrate […]
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What makes news humanitarian?
By Martin Scott (@martinscott2010). Originally published on: elpais.com. The dilemmas of reporting on suffering On April 4, horrible pictures of the suffering of victims of a chemical gas attack in Syria’s Idlib province seemingly moved US President Donald Trump to dramatically change his policy on Syria. Donald Trump himself claimed that, ‘the attack on children […]
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How do we decide which humanitarian crises are under-reported?
By Martin Scott (@martinscott2010). According to the World Food Program, more than 20 million people risk dying from starvation within six months, in four separate famines. But as long as news attention is focussed elsewhere, these crises are unlikely to receive the support they need. Just yesterday, the UNHCR reported that, two months into the […]
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Martin Scott
June 6, 2018
Publication