Media reporting of Third World disasters: the journalist’s perspective

Abstract

Editors or senior journalists within a sample of 21 leading UK newspapers were questioned about their opinions of the quality of the information about foreign (especially Third World) catastrophes supplied to them by the major disaster relief charities (Oxfam, Save the Children, ActionAid, etc.). The study also examined the procedures employed by journalists when searching for information about disasters, the major sources of information other than disaster relief organisations to which they referred, and their perceptions of what makes a story about a foreign disaster “newsworthy”. Additionally, the respondents discussed their reactions to the allegation that newspapers’ portrayals of the victims of Third World disasters stereotype, demean and patronise the communities involved. Briefly compares journalistic perspectives on these matters with those of the fund‐raising managers in a sample of seven major disaster relief charities.