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Reporting Humanitarian Disasters in a Social Media Age

Glenda Cooper author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:22nd Oct '18

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Reporting Humanitarian Disasters in a Social Media Age cover

From the tsunami to Hurricane Sandy, the Nepal earthquake to Syrian refugees—defining images and accounts of humanitarian crises are now often created, not by journalists but by ordinary citizens using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. But how has the use of this content—and the way it is spread by social media—altered the rituals around disaster reporting, the close, if not symbiotic, relationship between journalists and aid agencies, and the kind of crises that are covered? Drawing on more than 100 in-depth interviews with journalists and aid agency press officers, participant observations at the Guardian, BBC and Save the Children UK, as well as the ordinary people who created the words and pictures that framed these disasters, this book reveals how humanitarian disasters are covered in the 21st century – and the potential consequences for those who posted a tweet, a video or photo, without ever realising how far it would go.

'What is often been theorized upon and dealt with in highly hypothetical ways, has finally met its empirical match. Drawing on an impressive amount of interviews with journalists, aid agency press officers but especially with ordinary citizens posting on social media, Dr. Glenda Cooper offers an insightful and detailed inquiry into the role of UGC and forms of citizen journalism in reporting on international humanitarian disasters. The book asks compelling and topical questions about privacy, ethics and journalistic practices in this new digital age of social media.' -Stijn Joye, Ghent University, Belgium

ISBN: 9781138483576

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 498g

252 pages