“NGOs and the ‘modernization’ and ‘democratization’’ of media"

Many international NGOs value those parts of their work that are suited to media representation: campaigning, advocacy, projects that produce the right sort of images. In this article I make three points about this change. First, those parts of the NGO most reliant on media – such as the campaign desk – may be becoming more powerful. This can change the internal dynamics of NGOs. Second, the increasing use of media means that NGOs, like other organisations, hold themselves accountable in new ways. Third, NGOs may appear to look more and more like media organisations. These changes have received relatively little attention in the literature on NGOs, though they reflect a broader set of debates about the role of media in society. Using a case analysis of an international NGO, I suggest that the concept of mediatisation might be a useful way to understand some of the changes observed in the NGO sector. Beaucoup d'ONG internationales donnent de plus en plus valeur aux parties de leur travail qui sont adaptés à une représentation médiatique : organisation de campagnes, défense d'intérêts, et projets qui produisent 'le bon type' d'images. Dans cet article, je mets en avant trois arguments concernant ce changement. Premièrement, c'est que les parties des ONG les plus dépendants des media (comme le bureau d'une campagne) peuvent devenir plus puissantes et changer les dynamiques internes de l'ONG. Deuxièmement, l'utilisation croissante des medias font si que les ONG (comme d'autres organisations) soient tenus responsables dans des nouvelles formes. Troisièmement, les ONG apparaissent de plus en plus comme des organisations médiatiques. Ces changements n'ont pas reçu beaucoup d'attention dans la littérature sur les ONG, cependant ils réfléchissent une série de débats plus larges sur le rôle des medias dans la société. Utilisant un analyse de cas de une ONG internationale, je suggère que le concept de médiatisation peut nous donner une nouvelle façon de comprendre quelques-uns des changements observés dans le secteur des ONG.

International NGO journal, 2010

With the emergence of exploding forms of media and ever greater variety of internationally vocal non governmental organizations including multinational corporations, the field of public diplomacy and international relations is infinitely more complex. The fluid equation of public and private forces on the world of international communication and public diplomacy is the crosscutting issues in the multimodal media world. There is a need to highlight the principles and practice of global communication and public diplomacy today focusing on the interaction of government, media and NGOs and interplay of non governmental forces on governmental actions. Focusing on the context, this essay tries to forward a thematic framework for exploring and practicing efficient NGOs media strategies to sustain NGO-Media collaboration in today's multimodal media world.

Markets, Globalization & Development Review, 2017

This study elaborates on the non-governmental organizations in Turkey that operate within the broadly defined media field, where a wide variety of organizations, associations, movements and platforms are observed. Focusing on the two most disputed subdomains of the media in Turkey, namely news and information technologies, this descriptive research, at the first level, examines the causes or existence reasons of the NGOs along with their strategies, operations and achievements or failures. Their organizational forms and resources are studied at the second level. Third level of the study investigates their relations with a particular focus on their operational context. It has been found that the socio-political environment in the country or ongoing crises of different sorts, multiply the number of issues, and the existing complications impede mobilization.

Communications The European Journal of Communication Research, 2020

In recent decades, the fields of journalism, advocacy, politics, and technology have been transformed fundamentally, resulting in new societal contexts in which the communication of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is produced , disseminated, and received. Within these evolving contexts, Matthew Powers-one of the leading scholars in the field of NGO-journalism studies-provides an in-depth analysis of the journalistic roles of humanitarian and human rights NGOs. Adopting a multi-perspective,-disciplinary, and-methodological approach and drawing on diverse strands of research and theoretical frameworks , NGOs as newsmakers offers relevant insights into the communication efforts of these actors. The book proves to be a significant, innovative and wide-ranging contribution to the relatively fragmented academic literature and debate on contemporary NGO journalism in general and its content, production, and-to a lesser extent-reception dimensions. More concretely, NGOs as newsmakers consists of seven chapters which, using a historicized and contextualized approach, focus on various relevant but barely explored aspects of NGOs' communication efforts. The introductory chapter of NGOs as newsmakers discusses the research approach and central argument of the work, the state of the art, the selected theoretical frameworks, and provides an outline of the subsequent chapters. As such, the reader is immediately informed about the focus, context, and architecture of the book, which makes it even more readable. Chapter two then examines the longitudinal evolutions of the number and types of communication efforts of some leading humanitarian and human rights NGOs, their underlying reasons as well as broader implications. Drawing on these findings and a content analysis of humanitarian and human rights news found in leading American news outlets, chapter three investigates if and how the selected NGOs have also obtained a larger access to news media. Chapter four then focuses on how the NGOs use digital tools in their communication efforts. In connection therewith, chapter five examines why the NGOs prefer mainstream news coverage, despite new digital opportunities. Similarly, chapter six explores why journalistic norms continue to

This article explores the role that nongovernmental organizations play in the changing landscape of international news. Drawing on archival analysis and 65 interviews with nongovernmental organization professionals, it examines the resource commitments and values guiding research at leading humanitarian and human rights nongovernmental organizations. It finds that staff size, country coverage, and reporting capacity have increased substantially over time and now rival the resources found in major news organizations. Interviews reveal that nongovernmental organization work is guided by values of accuracy, pluralism, advocacy, and timeliness. These values overlap with and sometimes extend commonly held journalistic values, but they are not reducible to them. Findings suggest that nongovernmental organizations provide important ‘boots on the ground’ coverage of international affairs, even as their imbrication with journalistic practices raises important normative questions for nongovernmental organizations, journalists, and news audiences.

International media assistance took off during a time where the ideological extremes of USA vs. USSR were set to disappear. Following the Cold War, international relations focused on democracy building, and nurturing independent media was embraced as a key part of this strategy. Fukayama called it the ‘End of History’, the fact that all other ideologies had fallen and Western style democracy was set to become the one common ideology. The US and UK led the way in media assistance, with their liberal ideas of a free press, bolstered by free market capitalism. America was the superpower, and forged the way around the globe with its beacon of democracy. Under that guiding light they would bring truth, accuracy, freedom of expression and independent reporting to the countries which had so long lived under the shadow of communism, or authoritarian media systems. This is what propelled and justified American foreign policy, and their media assistance, for many years. Much work was thus carried out in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet satellites, but many now question the impact and legacy of these projects. When the US and UK spoke of media assistance they seemed to mean ‘free market’. These days, the ‘democracy promoters’ focus has turned more to Africa and the Middle East. The ideology is apparently the same: to help establish and support democracy with a stronger and more independent media. But with Western economies, and their media systems, in crisis, the relevance of this media assistance model is questioned. This essay looks at the history of media assistance and the ongoing debate on the impact of media assistance over the long term, its motives and the new balance of power appearing in international media development.

Humanitarianism and Media, 2018

'Media' is indeed a broad term. Understood very widely, it also covers food parcels or money transfers as media of exchange and power relations between donors and recipients. 4 Th e present investigations follow a more limited defi nition as used in media and communication studies. 5 Media are (1) the material forms in which a content is presented and which carry diff erent sign systems (textual, visual, audio and audiovisual), for example, an illustrated newspaper, a poster, a fi lm or a commemorative plaque. In the sense of technologically based products, media thus form part of the history of technology. Media are (2) organizations that produce those material forms; they are, for example, broadcasting corporations, publishing and marketing companies, or humanitarian agencies themselves. Media as organizations have an institutional history and produce and publish in specifi c economic contexts. Th ey include individual employees and representatives who work as journalists or public relations offi cers. Media comprise (3) an institutionalized system with legal and ethical norms, regulations, and standards that govern production, distribution and reception, and that form a structure with its own logic. All three aspects mentioned play a role in relation to humanitarianism, and when using the term 'media', we should keep in mind that it may refer to a product, a producer or a system of production, distribution and reception. Th e volume refl ects these various dimensions of media. Part I, 'Humanitarian Imagery', focuses primarily on media forms and their content, with a particular interest in visuals, since the late nineteenth century. Humanitarian actors and journalists have since used diff erent technologies from printed texts, illustrations and photographic images to radio, cinematic fi lms, television and internet media. 6 Although technological development has consecutively added new forms

Many international NGOs value those parts of their work that are suited to media representation: campaigning, advocacy, projects that produce the right sort of images. In this article I make three points about this change. First, those parts of the NGO most reliant on media – such as the campaign desk – may be becoming more powerful. This can change the internal dynamics of NGOs. Second, the increasing use of media means that NGOs, like other organisations, hold themselves accountable in new ways. Third, NGOs may appear to look more and more like media organisations. These changes have received relatively little attention in the literature on NGOs, though they reflect a broader set of debates about the role of media in society. Using a case analysis of an international NGO, I suggest that the concept of mediatisation might be a useful way to understand some of the changes observed in the NGO sector.

Global Media and Communication 3:3 (December 2007)

2012

Why do levels of public trust in NGOs vary across postcommunist countries? How does media independence influence these trust levels? The authors begin from the premise that citizens develop trust in NGOs when they believe that NGOs function according to their normative expectations and they receive regular information about NGOs' activities. Media has a crucial role in both these regards, especially in the context of countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, where the NGO sector is in a nascent stage and citizens lack prior experiences with NGOs as activist organizations and providers of public goods and services. First, media can provide information about NGO activities that enables citizens to develop opinions about individual NGOs and NGOs as a category of social actors. Second, media can serve as a vehicle to monitor the activities of NGOs and make them accountable. However, media may have its own biases and provide misleading information about NGOs. Thus the authors expect that media independence is associated with trust in NGOs. They analyze the relationship between NGO trust and media independence using a time-series and cross-section panel of 28 postcommunist countries from 1997 to 2006, controlling for a range of domestic and international factors that might influence trust in the NGO sector. Our analysis suggests that independent media is positively associated with trust in NGOs.