Looking Good: Mediatisation and International NGOs

Abstract

Many international

‘Working with the media taught us a lot’: Understanding The Guardian’s Katine initiative

“…44 In other ways, though, Katine can be seen as part of a broader trajectory in the relationship between NGOs and journalism. In seeking out new partners, and in wanting to have a media profile 'like the OXFAMs', AMREF offers an example of what can be thought of as the mediatisation of the NGO sector (Jones 2016). NGOs are increasingly coming to value those parts of their work that work in media terms, and where newspapers becoming a place for different sorts of content, and where issues that would once be of little interest to sponsorsglobal development, citiesbecome a source of sponsorship.…”

“…Smaller Journalism 57 58 59 https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/journalism NGOs often concentrate publicity around fund-raising, with less of an interest in the mainstream media; larger international NGOs need publicity for awareness-raising and campaigning and policy work (Yanacopulos 2005). As Powers observes the identity of larger international NGOs is increasingly tied to their interest in global policy agendas (Powers 2016) and campaigning NGOs like OXFAM and ActionAid have professional press and publicity divisions, with journalists on the staff, and success is measured, in large part in media terms, by influencing global policy agendas (Jones 2016). Smith and Yanacopulos make a general point about NGOs getting involved in a more complex 'production and reception of development's public faces' as in many ways they have become more like media organisations (2004).…”

Advocacy Research on Homophobia in Education: Claims-Making, Trauma Construction and the Politics of Evidence

“…Similarly, the increasing use of non-governmental organisations to provide public goods and services, known as the hollowing out of the state (Milward and Provan, 2010; Rhodes, 1994), further pushes charities towards adopting market-like practices to gain funding from government (Eikenberry, 2009). Charities have also developed close links with the media, and media coverage of their work is one metric by which they are judged by their stakeholders (Jones, 2017). Yet, while research is charting the shifting nature and practices of charities (e.g.…”

Digital Volunteer Networks and Humanitarian Crisis Reporting

“…and journalists has become blurred (Abbott 2015;Jones 2016). Abbott explains this primarily as the consequence of shrinking foreign news budgets at most media, when lack of media exposure or loss of audience interest have caused a number of crises to be underreported (Ardèvol-Abreu 2015), and consequently, aid efforts to be underfunded.…”

“…NGOs produce their own journalistic content in an attempt to reach external publics, raise the visibility of their cause and promote policy change (Waisbord 2011). Blurred boundaries between NGOs and media re-orient the aid sector towards new forms of accountability: from reporting to particular donors for particular tasks, to the growing pressure to constantly "look good" to a wide and often undefined audience of policymakers, campaigners, other organizations, and the public (Jones 2016).…”