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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Is humanitarian journalism in crisis?
By Martin Scott (@martinscott2010). In many ways, 2016 was a bad year for humanitarian journalism. It saw the closure of several key news organisations and significant redundancies at others. The most widely reported was the closure of Al Jazeera America in April. According to their board, their business model was, ‘simply not sustainable in light […]
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Martin Scott
September 14, 2017
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