Group items tagged

"The past decade has seen dramatic changes in the information and communication environment. Parameters as to who has access to information gathering and dissemination have altered rapidly and irreversibly. Civil society actors such as NGOs and advocacy networks are becoming increasingly significant players as the traditional news media model is threatened by shrinking audiences, the availability of free content online, and the declining fortunes of mainstream media. To what extent do NGOs take on functions as information intermediaries, working in cooperation with, or even in the stead of, traditional news organizations? Are we witnessing a general trend, or do NGOs fulfill specific purposes in times of crisis or critical events that focus attention on a specific (international) topic? And what are the consequences of this for the fields of advocacy and journalism? This essay series, organized by the Center for Global Communication Studies (CGCS) at the Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania, in cooperation with the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, seeks to examine these critical questions from a variety of perspectives, and encourage discussion and deliberation on what these changes mean for NGOs, traditional media outlets, news consumers, and society as a whole."

A New Website for a Changing World SocialDocumentary.net is a new website that features documentary photography from around the world-images and words that explore the human condition. Easily Create Documentary Websites About Critical Issues Facing Our World Today Professional and amateur photographers, journalists, NGOs, students-anyone with a story to tell and a collection of good photographs-can easily and affordably begin creating websites on SocialDocumentary.net. Global warming, international justice, post-conflict reconstruction, HIV/AIDS, or life in Afghanistan or suburban America are just a few of the themes that you can find on SocialDocumentary.net. The goal of this website is to make our lives richer and more informed about issues affecting us and our world today. Powerful photographs can also lead to meaningful change in the lives of ordinary people. SocialDocumentary. net provides tools for photographer to inform viewers how to take action-either by supporting NGOs doing work on the issues, or by engaging in direct political action. Not all documentary photographers are concerned with action. Many photographers featured on SocialDocumentary.net are concerned with subtleties of the human experience and exploring personal themes. Photographs on SocialDocumentary.net-whether of struggling farmers in Africa or of suburban teenagers in Philadelphia-offer a fresh way to look at the world and a greater understanding of humanity. The secondary goal is to create an online image bank of quality photographs documenting all aspects of the world created by an international collection of photographers. This will enable students, college professors, journalists, and anyone else to easily see any part of the world in quality digital imagery and gain valuable information about the subjects they are viewing. We encourage all photographers, everywhere, to use this site as a tool in their own image-making and documentary exploration. We also encourage n

In 2007, Dóchas members adopted a Code of Conduct on Images and Messages. The purpose of this Code is to provide a framework which organisations can refer to when designing and implementing their public communication strategy. The Dóchas Code offers a set of guiding principles that can assist organisations in their decision-making about which images and messages to choose in their communication while maintaining full respect for human dignity. By signing the Code, Development NGOs commit to a set of principles, ensuring that they will avoid stereotypical or sensational images. The adoption of the Code means that aid agencies will choose images and messages that represent the full complexity of the situations in which they work, and that they will seek the permission of the people portrayed in the photos they use.

Multimedia Journalists Discover Life After Newspapers Non-profits, NGOs and corporations are looking for storytellers, and former newspaper photographers are answering the call.

Avoiding Freelancer Freefall By Mike FoxmikefoxcloseAuthor: Mike Fox See Author's Posts (7) Recent Posts * Avoiding Freelancer Freefall * How to Work with NGOs: Two Approaches * Print Media Layoffs Are an Acceptance of Defeat -- Not a Strategy for the Future * Online Tools to Stay Competitive in the Digital Age * Six Strategies for Getting Closer to Your Subject San Francisco-based freelance photojournalist Mike Fox has worked all over Europe, South Africa and the United States, with assignments also taking him to other parts of Africa, the Middle East, Haiti. Mexico and Southeast Asia. In his 15+ years as a photojournalist, Mike has been doused in tear gas, nearly attacked by a wild donkey, and brought in to land on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. His work has been featured in many leading daily, weekly and monthly publications as well as on MSNBC, CNN and other news-related web sites. Mike specializes in corporate photojournalism and has a substantial client list, many of which are located in the Silicon Valley area. Visit Mike's Web site and blog. in Business of Photography on November 17th, 2008 Just yesterday, a colleague sent me a Facebook message saying that she had been laid off from her newspaper. She wanted some advice on finding freelance work; I know she is not alone. Over the years, I have seen many newspaper staffers suddenly find themselves without the support structure that a corporation can provide -- no camera gear, no assignment editor, no benefits, no work, no salary. It can be a rude awakening.

Amnesty International is an organization of more than two million people united across the globe campaigning for the human rights for all. Outraged by human rights abuses but inspired by hope for a better world -- we work to improve human rights through campaigning and international solidarity.

about cij The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) advances education for, and public understanding of; investigative journalism, critical inquiry, and in-depth reporting and research. CIJ is a registered charity offering high-level training, resources and research to the community, journalists, students, non-governmental organisations and others interested in public integrity and the defence of the public interest. The Centre runs international summer schools, produces publications to help present landmark investigations, offers training in appropriate techniques, organises debates, speakers and screenings on critical issues - all designed to nourish the culture and professional standards of investigative journalism. We are assembling a significant archive of investigative material. It can assist and defend investigations and provide research materials, advice and resources to NGOs, community activists, journalists and researchers. The CIJ offers particular assistance to those working in difficult environments where freedom of speech and of the press is under threat and where reporting can be a dangerous occupation.

Media and development - Where's the Gap? John Davison, the Head of Media at Christian Aid has begun his personal visiting research fellowship at Polis with a research seminar at which he outlined his plans for a study of the relationship between journalism and NGOs in Africa

Photojournalism and ethics - How far would you go for a photo? Duckrabbit takes Pulitzer Center to task over ethics Posted on April 21, 2010 by mirandagavin| 4 Comments Benjamin Chesterton from duckrabbit alerted me to the following story. He has just published his views on A Developing Story with quotes from his letter to the Pulitzer Centre. Briefly, and according to Chesterton: "The Center has recently funded the photographer Macro Venaschi to do a story on child sacrifice in Uganda. His highly stylized black and white photographs are deeply disturbing on a number of levels. One of the pictures shows an abused boy with a catheter protruding from where his penis has been cut off. I believe that if published in the UK, this picture would be illegal on the basis of indecency. Beyond that, there is an account on the Pulitzer website of how Vernashi persuaded grieving parents to have their murdered child's body exhumed so that he could take photographs of the body. A payment was then made to those present.

Over the years it seems they've done exactly that, funding the kind of international journalism that often is without a sponsor in the USA.   But for journalism to retain any integrity it cannot simply rely on something as intangible as 'a deep sense of responsibility', it must be grounded in a solid set of ethical principles and it must be accountable.   Without these principles journalism doesn't shine the light into dark places, it becomes the dark place. Several weeks ago I came across  a set of pictures on Facebook and Photoshelter by the talented photographer Marco Vernaschi which focus on the subject of child sacrifice in Uganda. The work is both being funded and promoted by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. It's a decent enough story, but not one that is in any way new. The pictures are black and white, often blurred, without hope and even evoke a sense of nihilism.  Nothing however in my journalistic career could prepare me for the disturbing truth as to how a number of the photos were taken.

The New York Times is running a slideshow by photographer Jan Grarup about life in the Daadab, reportedly the oldest refugee camp in the world. "The strength of the project rests within its immediacy," Mr. Grarup said. "It has an honesty to it." I was in Daadab not so long ago myself. I may not have been there for long but I was there long enough to notice that life in the camp wasn't one you would wish on the  worst of your neighbors -Kenyans and Somalis from Somalia aren't the best of neighbors. In the camps there is of course suffering but I would also have loved to see images of the children that were playing in the camp, images of the schools set up, images of the street with all the shops where refugees who've refused to be victims of circumstances are taking charge and rebuilding their lives. Where are the photos of the weddings that happen in the camp and where are the photos of people who despite their many tribulations, still observe prayers without fail? Where are the photos telling the other side of the story?

One surefire way to irritate blind people is to think that you can put a blindfold on for an hour or two and understand what it is to be blind. It sounds like a good idea until you really start to think about it. I should know. I once set out to make a radio documentary for the BBC about the contrasting ways in which the visually impaired and the sighted experience the countryside.

In the vanguard of the Marines, the press corps had already stormed Somailia. Now we will see more of the famailiar pictures of grotesque human degradation, with foreign angels of mercy ministering to starving children, juxtaposed with images of trigger-happy teen-age looters. Such pictures prompted President Bush's military adventure-now they will justify it. The camera can't lie, we are told. But anyone who has watched a Western film crew in an African famine will know just how much effort it takes to compose the "right" image. Photogenic starving children are hard to find, even in Somalia. Somali doctors and nurses have expressed shock at the conduct of film crews in hospitals. They rush through crowded corridors, leaping over stretchers, dashing to film the agony before it passes. They hold bedside vigils to record the moment of death. When the Italian actress Sophia Loren visited Somalia, the paparazzi trampled on children as they scrambled to film her feeding a little girl-three times. This is disaster pornography.

We've all seen it: the photo of a teary-eyed African child, dressed in rags, smothered in flies, with a look of desperation that the caption all too readily points out.  Some organization has made a poster that tells you about the realities of poverty, what they are doing about it, and how your donation will change things. I reacted very strongly to these kinds of photos when I returned from Africa in 2008.  I compared these photos to my own memories of Malawian friends and felt lied to.  How had these photos failed so spectacularly to capture the intelligence, the laughter, the resilience, and the capabilities of so many incredible people?