RIPPLES IN THE MURKY WATERS: How Humanitarian NGOs and American News Media Relate in International Crises

Abstract

News about crises abroad first came to an American public in letters arriving on schooners from Europe after months of travel; now it comes in seconds via push notifications on smartphone screens. The pace and format of news reception have shifted with increasing rapidity, so that many of the practices and paradigms of international journalism in America are significantly different now from even a decade earlier. As traditional resources and mechanisms for reporting the news have changed or decreased, another player has entered into the international news production role: the humanitarian non-governmental organization, or NGO. The relationship between these two fields, which is often most visible in crisis situations, has become the subject of a growing body of research, as their transactions and mutual impacts highlight their common and diverging identities and goals.