Humanitarian Journalism Today
Venue: City, University of London
Date: October 15, 2018
Description: The Ethical Journalism Network’s Tom Law took part in a panel discussion on humanitarian journalism to launch a major new report from Martin Scott, Kate Wright and Mel Bunce, The State of Humanitarian Journalism, based on four years of research.
Humanitarian need is at an all-time high, with ongoing crises in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria and elsewhere. However, the news outlets that report on these issues are under huge pressures that include declining revenue, attacks from political elites, and the spectre of ‘fake news’. The report shows which news outlets report on humanitarian issues, how they frame their stories, and what audiences think about this news.
After the findings of the report were presented a panel of leading journalists and media commentators discussed the findings and their own experiences reporting on humanitarian crises.
‘The state of humanitarian journalism’ new research report and panel discussion
- Josephine Schmidt, Executive Editor at IRIN, the world’s oldest humanitarian newswire
- James Copnall, Newsday presenter, BBC World Service
- Tom Law, Director of Campaigns and Communications, The Ethical Journalism Network
- Stefanie Glinski, Freelance journalist and photographer, currently based in Afghanistan.
The panel was followed by a screening of Another News Story about the journalists who reported on the 2015 ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe.
Screening of ‘Another News Story’
The film opens in 2015 in Greece as refugees arrive on the idyllic island of Lesbos and follows refugees into Hungary and Croatia and across Europe to a hoped-for sanctuary. Since 2015 the current refugee crisis has flooded every news and media outlet across the globe.
Another News Story takes a unique approach to capturing this narrative. While still giving a ground-floor perspective of migrants fleeing Syria and Turkey and their struggle to find a country where they are welcome, director Orban Wallace simultaneously turns the camera on the journalists and the role they play in representing the crisis to the world.
Wallace’s gripping debut feature raises important questions about what happens behind the camera, and how the life cycle of a news story starts and grows.
Ethics in the News: Another News Story
As part of the EJN’s Ethics in the News series of events in partnership with the Frontline Club, the EJN screened Another News Story followed by a Q&A with director and producer Orban Wallace, producer Verity Wislocki, and forced migration researcher Ahmad al-Rashid on Wednesday 4th April 2018.
The Q&A was moderated by the Chair of the Ethical Journalism Network by Dorothy Byrne, who is the Head of News and Current Affairs at Channel 4 and featured director and producer Orban Wallace, producer Verity Wislocki, forced migration researcher Ahmad al-Rashid.