Who's Reporting Africa Now?; Non-Governmental Organizations, Journalists, and Multimedia

New
Illustrated
2018
$50.75

As news organizations cut correspondent posts and foreign bureaux, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have begun to expand into news reporting. Why and how do journalists use the photographs, video, and audio that NGOs produce? What effects does this have on the kinds of stories told about Africa? And how have these developments changed the nature of journalism and NGO-work?

Who's Reporting Africa Now?: Non-Governmental Organizations, Journalists, and Multimedia is the first book to address these questions-using frank interviews and internal documents to shed light on the workings of major news organizations and NGOs, collaborating with one another in specific news production processes. These contrasting case studies are used to illuminate the complex moral and political economies underpinning such journalism, involving not only NGO press officers and journalists but also field workers, freelancers, private foundations, social media participants, businesspeople, and advertising executives.

Synopsis

As news organizations cut correspondent posts and foreign bureaux, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have begun to expand into news reporting. Why and how do journalists use the photographs, video, and audio that NGOs produce? What effects does this have on the kinds of stories told about Africa? And how have these developments changed the nature of journalism and NGO-work?

Who's Reporting Africa Now?: Non-Governmental Organizations, Journalists, and Multimedia is the first book to address these questions-using frank interviews and internal documents to shed light on the workings of major news organizations and NGOs, collaborating with one another in specific news production processes. These contrasting case studies are used to illuminate the complex moral and political economies underpinning such journalism, involving not only NGO press officers and journalists but also field workers, freelancers, private foundations, social media participants, businesspeople, and advertising executives.

$50.75

Quantity

10 in stock

More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 298
Edition: New
Publisher: Peter Lang US
Published: 17 May 2018
ISBN 10: 1433151030
ISBN 13: 9781433151033

Media Reviews

To understand the moral economies of solidifying power in media representations of Africa, read Kate Wright's book. Who's Reporting Africa Now? is a detailed analysis of the production of `Africa' in our contemporary world of social media and the widespread casualization of media production. Wright provides a deep understanding of the structural factors that bring forth relationships between freelancers and international NGOs and charts their struggles to produce `good' journalism within these constraints. The book benefits from insider knowledge and an engaged writing style attributable to the author's own lived experience as a journalist. Scholars and practitioners eager to understand the realities of the new actors and alliances shaping development and humanitarianism today must read this book. - Lisa Ann Richey, Professor of International Development, Roskilde University
Who's Reporting Africa Now? is a fascinating journey behind the scenes of the production of contemporary representations of Africa. Thanks to Kate Wright's unique access and understanding of the news industry, the book unravels a captivating media ecology where NGOs and journalists engage in complicated exchanges, not only with each other but also with freelancers, private foundations, and PR agencies and social media participants. In so doing, Wright offers compelling evidence to understand how NGOs have come to play such a central role in the production of visual images of Africa. With tremendous energy, the book successfully articulates and combines a wide range of debates and literature from African studies, international development, media studies, and cultural and creative industries. The book will be a terrific opportunity for African studies readers to reconsider the key debates over Africa's image in an increasingly mediatized world. -Toussaint Nothias, Lecturer in African Studies, Stanford University
Kate Wright's Who's Reporting Africa Now? is a clear and thought-provoking work on the connections between NGOs, journalists, and news organizations. Using a case-studies approach, the book, the first of its kind, analyzes how multiple media producers within and outside of sub-Saharan African countries shape the production of international news about Africa. The book moves the study of NGO-journalist relations in a new theoretical direction using moral economy theory and contributes directly to our understanding of complicated international news production practices. I highly recommend this book, particularly for students and scholars interested in journalism, media studies, international politics, and sociology. -Shakuntala Rao, Professor of Communication Studies, State University of New York

Author Bio

An award-winning journalist, Kate Wright worked on the BBC's Africa desk. After gaining her PhD at Goldsmiths College, University of London, she took up a position as Chancellor's Fellow in the Cultural and Creative Industries at the University of Edinburgh.