Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality - Chapter 20 - Media representations of humanitarianism

Every two weeks I am going to feature one of the chapters of our Handbook on Humanitarianism and Inequality which was published in spring 2024.
This week we are taking a closer look at Chapter 20 - Media representations of humanitarianism - contributed by Valérie Gorin.

From the introduction
The twenty-first century has witnessed improvements with the growth of media development agencies and foundation-funded journalism helping independent journalists develop stories on underreported global issues and make them available to broader audiences. These new media outlets, as well as the expansion of citizen journalism and social media, open new lines of inquiry over their potential to disseminate information detached from mainstream media and institutional communication. Meanwhile, gradual attention was given this last decade to (1) criticism of the colonialist, imperialist and orientalist gaze dominant in humanitarian representations; (2) decentralisation of the hegemonic norms to non-Western hemispheres; and (3) visual gaps to represent specific minorities. My position as a researcher can be characterised as an outsider to media and humanitarian organisations although I work in a multicultural executive training programme with humanitarian practitioners. This position is valuable to discuss visual politics, perceptions, and asymmetries with a very global audience.
(…)
This chapter begins with a historical account of media representations in humanitarianism since the development of image culture in the late nineteenth century, showing that visual tropes embedded in the humanitarian spectacle have often essentialised and narrowed down actions and actors to a dichotomic discourse as reinforced othering processes rather than unifying or humanising processes. I then explore the media’s role in the crisis triangle that includes humanitarian organisations and audiences, which raises questions about the extent to which they can influence international assistance and decision makers. The chapter continues with a discussion about the relationship between aid agencies and international or local media, with systemic logics and organisational interests that often govern the relationship. Finally, I conclude by examining ethical and deontological implications of such representations and the way they are challenged with the globalisation of communication and the emergence of social media, offering alternative representations to the Western-centric approach.

Note on contributor
Valérie Gorin is senior lecturer and researcher at the Geneva Center of Humanitarian Studies (University of Geneva).
As a historian and media scholar, she has carried out research on the history of aid and humanitarian communication, with a strong focus on visual culture and politics. She has published on the iconography of famine, war images, representations of migration, visual advocacy, humanitarian cartoons, or humanitarian cinema. She is currently doing research about the use of virtual reality and digital innovations in the aid sector.

Overviews are already available for the following chapters:
Introduction: humanitarianism and inequality – a re-orientation

Humanitarianism and colonialism

Humanitarianism and the global Cold War, 1945–1991

Humanitarianism and the new wars: humanitarianism, security, and securitisation

Humanitarianism, development and peace: a southern perspective

Localisation and the humanitarian sector

Human rights and humanitarianism

Humanitarian organisations: behemoths and butterflies

Faith actors in humanitarianism: dynamics and inequalities

Diaspora assistance  

Political solidarity movements and humanitarianism: lessons from Catalonia, Spain (1975–2020)

Subversive humanitarianism

Citizen’s groups and grassroots humanitarianism

Humanitarianism and the military

Race, racialisation, and coloniality in the humanitarian aid sector

Humanitarian organisations as gendered organisations

Sexuality and humanitarianism: colonial ‘hauntings’

Class matters in humanitarianism

Humanitarianism and disability