MEDIA AND HEALTH
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UNNiKRiSHNAN P.V. (Dr)" <unnikru@yanoo.com>
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<SPJ4CWORLDWlDE@yahcogroups.com>; <PHM_Steering_Group_0203@yahoogroups.com>; <PHM_Humanitarian_action_cirele@yahoogroups.com>; <phaexchange-admin@kabissa.org>; <pha-ncc@yahoogroups.com>; "Roger Yates"
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Thursday, March 04, 2004 3:04 PM
[pha-ncc] Charities face dilemma: food parcels or press releases- A new study sponsored by
Fritz Institute and Reuters Foundation.
Source: AlertNet
Date: 3 Mar 2004
Charities face dilemma: food ©areeis or sress releases
http:/AwAV.re!ief',veb.intAv/rwb.nsf/UN!D/S265A3B7C854ECDE49256E4D000CC3DF?
OpenDocument
By Mark Jones
LONDON (AlerlNel) - Gelling good press coverage is hard enough for any organisation. For
cash-starved charities covering faraway crises and facing growing scepticism over then activities,
it's a huge challenge, according to a new study sponsored hv Fritz Institute and Reuters
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One of the report’s main findings is that officials working on the emergency frontline often have little or no
training in now to handle the media, as such, they run the risk that their work with journalists will backfire.
One senior charity manager in Africa set up a journalist's visit only to find that a colleague handling part of
the tour had spent much of his time attempting to convert the journalist to his belief in witchcraft. Tne
manager was able to intervene and prevent this from colouring the reporting of the group's work.
A second charity operating in a Muslim country was not so lucky. Its local, non-Muslim press minder
looking after a visiting journalist was overheard by soldiers making anti-iviuslim comments in a cafe and
was arrested, along witn tne reporter. The journalist agreed not to write up the incident, but the story
surfaced elsewhere.
in a third case, a charity assigned one of its best handlers to escort a New York journalist. Two weeks
were spent setting up the visit. But tne handier was used to dealing with sponsors. The reporter was
treated to the kind of lengthy, detailed tour suited to a visiting dignitary but came away with no angle for a
story
These examples come from a study by Steve Ross of the Columbia School of Journalism into the views
and experiences of more than 50 relief charity media officers and nearly 300 journalists.
it is thought io be the most detailed assessment yet of relationships between relief charities and the
media.
MEDIA uiLEMMA
alists to cover emergencies in general, and their own activities in particular, to attract
good press relations as anything less than "very important" - the
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highest possible ranking.
"Media drives orivate donations as well as increases our visibility with major donor agencies and
governments and is what allows us to run our missions," one media officer said.
But the study suggested a deep reluctance to devote resources to press relations, particularly from
donors worried about charities' exoense ratios. The impression was that donors were keen on publicity
but did not want to pay for it, at least not as an identifiable budget item
"Everyone Knows the more we raise visibility the more we can solicit money," a North American media
officer said. "But the orograms themselves don't budget [press relations] in their prooosals."
This, coupled with sensitivity to the possibility of media criticism of well-intentioned work, may explain why
relatively few resources are devoted to media operations in all but tne biggest chanties.
Typical was this comment: 'We spend very little money on PR. There's no field-based staff for media
relations or external affairs. Rareiy, we have scraped together money for crisis settings in Pakistan, briefly
in Liberia ano Iraq. We're responsive to queries out do not stimulate coverage."
There also appears to be a widespread feeling that field workers are too busy dealing with a crisis to
handie press relations.
"[We] keep international staffs small and hire mostly nationals so there is no one on the ground to take
this role," one respondent said. 'They don’t have the time to say to reporters, 'Why don't you come along
with me and i'll show you the clinics we set up today.’”
The situation is reflected in the qualifications and training of staff. Few respondents reported training
budgets beyond a few hundred dollars. Field staff freely admitted they dealt with the press without the
benefit of formal training.
WHAT GETS A CRISIS NOTICED?
Journalists said an emergency stands the best chance of coverage if it has a high death toll: involves a
population from the same background as the audience; has created suffering among children; can provide
compelling visuals or eyewitness accounts; and has foreign policy implications for the journalist's country.
"A crisis story is compelling for the press when it involves mass migration of people, ongoing violence, or
significant death, it is compelling when there are visuals: refugee camps etc.," one respondent said.
"It is less compelling when it is a story of chronic deprivation, or when the story is far from our comfort
zone, i e Rwanda Congo."
Tnat s a tail oraer, ruling out many current emergencies for journalists in most countries.
This may explain ths high level of 'forgotten emergencies" identified by relief charities - why there has
been relatively plentiful coverage of Afghanistan and Iraq and relatively little of the huge loss of life in the
Democratic Repuoiic of Congo or the scourge of malaria in Africa.
Whether or not it is possible to shift permanently the media's appetite for humanitarian emergency
coverage is a vexed issue. The Fritz/Reuters study tackled a less demanding question: Are there
information barriers that are hindering coverage by journalists already interested in the subject?
The following emerged as key hurdles: the cost of getting reporters into the field; the lack of timely
response from groups at the scene; the inability to link up with groups doing crisis intervention work at the
scene; and inadequate information on charity websites to support "story pitches".
BRIDGING THE INFORMATION GAP
Charity press officers were near unanimous in saying journalist organisations jump on disaster coverage
but are less willing to cover chronic issues such as disease and famine. Journalists dispute this and by a
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four io one margin report that scepticism and criticism cf charities is on the increase.
There is clearlv suspicion on both sides. But there is also some room for optimism given clear indications
from the study of what would improve relations
In aadition to better media training for relief charity media staff, the study identified two other priorities:
better information and suooort services for journalists and improved use of the Internet by relief charities.
When asked what wouid heip them cover humanitarian emergencies better, journalists' favourite choice
outside North America was independently financed trips into the field. This finding begs the question of
whether it is possible to find a genuinely independent sponsor for such visits.
Less controversial were a series of simple ideas aimed at streamlining journalists' search for information.
Top was the provision of "crisis profiles" giving up-to-date background on humanitarian emergencies.
Next came the creation of an online directory showing which charities were at the scene of a crisis to help
journalists track down interviewees. Third was a regular e-mail update on the latest emergencies and
early warning of future crises.
Half of reporters handling emergency reporting use search engines to find contacts and background. Yet
of 32 charity websites analysed, three failed to give contacts details, only 11 included links to groups
doing similar work and two-thirds failed to provide an archive of past press releases.
Worse still, few sites had internal search engines and not one charity respondent could say whether their
site had been optimised for the major search engines. Advice on best use of tiie Web is sorely needed by
many relief chanties, the study suggests.
iJiHDiA 'ARMS RACE'
Donors, individuals or government, are heavily influenced by broadcast and press coverage. That
presents relief charities with a difficult choice - how much to spend on media relations rather than
meeting immediate humanitarian requirements.
"The natural tendency is that money should go for food," said a media officer at a large U.S.-based relief
charity that has adopted a more active publicity strategy. "There used to be a natural culture of modesty,
and we felt good about it, that there should be little advocacy for the group, that everyone just wanted to
ao the work.
Timas have changed and the need to influence opinion has persuaded governments and the corporate
sector to embrace professional media relations as a necessity. Many relief charities appear to have fallen
Denina in this "arms race" for media exposure.
The Fritz/Reuters study shows that the choice not to invest much in media relations carries risks for many
relief charities. Relatively straightforward changes could improve coverage of emergencies, and without
nuge cost.
But since the money has to come from somewhere, perhaps the strongest finding is that little will change
unless donors can be convinced of the value of good media relations.
Dr.Unnikrishnan P'/
Fallow: Humanitarian Action
ActionAid - Asia Regional Office, Bangkok, THAILAND
Tel: +66 2 651 9066-9 ; Fax: +66 2 651 9070
E-mail: unni@actionaidasia.org (office) / unnikru@yahoo.com (personal)
Yahoo messenger: unnjkn.i@vahoo.com I MSN Messenger: unnikru@hotmail.com
Website: www.actionaid.org
fighting poverty together
actionaid
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