Disasters, Relief and the Media - Couverture rigide

Benthall, Jonathan

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1850437378 ISBN 13 : 9781850437376

Editeur : I.B. Tauris, 1993

Synopsis

Written at a time when disasters both natural - drought, famine - and manmade - the war in Yugoslavia, civil strike in South Africa - fill our TV screens and newspapers, and when politicians are arguing over how many refugees Britain should accept, this book examines the way in which relief agencies and the media interact, and illustrates many of the organizational, moral and political problems facing them. Dr Benthall considers the different styles and "marketing techniques" of the different agencies, with particular attention paid to the power of television. There are also accounts of two modern calamities: the Nigerian civil war of the late 1960s and the Armenian earthquake of 1988.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

The mass media have immense power, in their reporting of disasters, both natural and man-made, to stir the consciences of prosperous Westerners as well as to manipulate the perception of poverty and deprivation for political ends. For the relief agencies, the media present both unparalleled opportunities to raise money and acute ethical dilemmas when fund-raising priorities, developmental strategies and educational values conflict. In 1993, this was the first book-length study of the representation of disasters in the media and of the marketing methods used by major relief agencies. In the preface to this new paperback edition which reviews the major developments in aid and in the media since the early 1990s, Jonathan Benthall contests the view of some commentators that the emergence of new technologies, the Internet and the cellphone, has radically changed the balance of power between the aid system and afflicted populations. He develops his original theme to argue that a stable system is in place, whereby representations of misery in the South are exported to the North as consumables which are continuously reciprocated by flows of humanitarian aid. When the allotted role of Third World victimhood is repudiated, for instance by migrant workers, the North sets up stern political barriers.

Revue de presse

'Essential reading for those involved in aid and development as well as for others interested in cultural studies.' --Oxfam Journal

'...a genuinely original work that creates a context for the nightly parade of keening refugees and pot-bellied infants through our living rooms.' --Boyd Tonkin, New Statesman & Society

'...a genuinely original work that creates a context for the nightly parade of keening refugees and pot-bellied infants through our living rooms.' --Boyd Tonkin, New Statesman & Society

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: I.B. Tauris
• Date d'édition: 1993
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1850437378
• ISBN 13: 9781850437376
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 288
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible