The News Media and Humanitarian Aid: from Biafra to Cyclone Nargis

Jonathan Benthall23rd ALNAP Biannual Meeting4th June 2008

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Back in history… The Crimean war NGO origins in stirring opinion against

blockades Save the children – east Europeans – WW1 Oxfam – Greece – WW2

Some turning points in late 20th century Biafra 1967-70 Cambodia 1979-80 Ethiopia and live aid 1984-5 Armenian earthquake 1988

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The ‘New World Information Order’

UNESCO sponsored debate in 1970-80s

MacBride Report Aim: to make flow of news more equitable Criticized by USA and UK as attacking press

freedom and passing control to dictatorial governments - Dead by mid-1980s

Probably rightly because of lack of free press in most countries served by humanitarian agencies

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Media trends in early 1990s Growing dominance of TV and reduction of time-lags Media studies

McLuhan, Raymond Williams, John Fiske ‘Infotainment’ Narrative structure of disaster news – the ‘folk tale’

‘Crisis of representation’ Edward Said, John Berger … Third World as paradoxically both exoticized and

disvalued (‘feminized’) Launching of IBT

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NGO trends in early 1990s

High pressure marketing Intensified by Oxfam, Christian Aid, World

Vision, MSF …Less reverent approach

Self-criticismSerious research begins in late 1980s but still

sparse

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Changes since early 1990s…Explosion of research on NGOs

Rhetoric of humanitarianism explicitly

borrowed by governments ‘Humanitarian war’

Changes in the Islamic worldAl-Jazeera Islamic NGOs

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…changes since the early 90s

Steps taken to counteract the standard narrative (e.g. Channel Four ‘Unreported World’) but decline of serious documentary at peak viewing times

New technologies

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Have things really changed? Large scale disasters still fall off the media map

Somalia, Congo today Publicity does not necessarily generate remedial

action Rwanda, Cyclone Nargis

Permanent tension between fund-raising and operations

Humanitarian aid as basically conservative? Fundamentals little different?

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Towards a political economy of the disaster/media/relief nexus Need for a dispassionate approach but sensitive

to the ethics of speaking about the suffering of others

Necessary analysis of medical and hospital services should not be taken as disparaging the motives of doctors and nurses

Aid workers, journalists, academics live on disasters – but so do medics on disease

Danger of over-sacralization of NGOs (cf. Catholic Church?) Who controls the channels of aid? Disaster as an export commodity

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The exports of poor countries‘Goods’

Primary materials Cheap manufacture

‘Services’ – ‘Invisible’ but visual-media-led: Tourism - the seductive, exotic body and scenes of

pleasure The disaster-struck body and scenes of devastation

(Giorgio Agamben: ‘bare life’)Autarkies

Would-be self-sufficient States

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The banana industry… 20% of world production exported Coexistence of small and large producers Risks

Storms, pests, funguses – environmental impact Dominance of multinational companies and

supermarkets Most of profits come from transport,

ripening, retail Commercial conflict between EU and USA

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…the banana industry

Marketing

classification of shapes and sizesspecialized markets: organic, fair trade,

‘ethnic’ (red, baby, plantains etc.)

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Likewise disasters as exports Control of the channels of:

information TO the North - and aid FROM the North Media in symbiosis with NGOs Marketing and competition between intermediaries International regulation and political manipulation Unpredictable shifts in modes of consumption (the

caprice of donors) BUT bananas and coffee have very limited security

and military implications…

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Big changes to come?

Rise of China, India……. As media powers? As new humanitarian donors? But not yet

Military humanitarian programmes Neglected? Hardly appear in the extensive

evaluations of Indian Ocean tsunami relief Private sector

Venture philanthropy Corporate Social Responsibility programmes

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Solutions?Back to the UNESCO debates of the 1970-80s?

A New World Information Order favouring the South?

But incorporating democratic principles? As articulated in the Internet?But politics of the Internet invisible to general publicUS research* suggests all new communications technologies are greeted as liberating – then follows a period of disillusion.

*Dean, J., Jon W. Anderson & G. Lovink, eds. ‘Reformatting politics: information technology and global civil society’, Routledge 2006.

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In conclusion

Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine: Overblown argument but makes valid point that

disasters (man-made or natural) are opportunities for either peace-building (e.g. Aceh) or imposition of draconian regimes, extended state of

emergency. Duties of media and NGOs when interacting

with traumatized populations.