Why are so many humanitarian crises under-reported?
By Martin Scott (@martinscott2010). Originally published by Inter Press Service. According to a recent poll of aid agencies by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the most under-reported crisis of 2018 was the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, commented that, ‘the brutality of the conflict is […]
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What’s Wrong with Philanthro-Journalism?
Our research raises questions about unintended consequences when it comes to foundation funding of international coverage.
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Foundation funding and the boundaries of journalism (Article)
By Martin Scott, Mel Bunce and Kate Wright. Private foundations are an important source of funding for many news outlets. It has even been suggested that they may offer a partial solution to journalism’s economic crisis. Yet we do not know how foundation funding shapes journalistic practice. In this article, we show that foundation funding […]
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REPORT: The state of humanitarian journalism
By Martin Scott, Kate Wright and Mel Bunce. In this report we present some of the findings of our four year, global research project into the state of humanitarian journalism around the world. We ask, Which news organisations regularly report on humanitarian affairs? How are they funded, and what ethical problems or professional dilemmas does […]
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REPORT: The state of humanitarian journalism
By Martin Scott, Kate Wright and Mel Bunce. In this report we present some of the findings of our four year, global research project into the state of humanitarian journalism around the world. We ask, Which news organisations regularly report on humanitarian affairs? How are they funded, and what ethical problems or professional dilemmas does […]
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Foundation support for international news: Mapping the landscape
By Martin Scott, Kate Wright and Mel Bunce. In this short report, we describe the key features of the landscape of private foundation support for international non-profit journalism. Our findings are based on interviews with representatives of a range of relevant foundations, intermediaries and non-profit news outlets in 2017. See here for the full report: […]
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‘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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Martin Scott
February 11, 2019
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