Bloggers, Buzz and Soundbites: Innovative Media Approaches to Humanitarian Response

The internet is playing an increasingly important role in mobilizing humanitarian response. Grassroots coalitions are now built by e-mail and text messages. Mainstream media outlets continually rely on stories researched and broken by bloggers and are no putting more resources into their own websites. Bloggers and independent journalists are even utilizing other internet tools, such as YouTube, in addition to their blogs as a way of raising awareness about issues as well as for fundraising. Such wide access to the internet and the proliferation of blogs has enabled coverage of war and humanitarian issues from different perspectives.

This seminar explored the role of new media technologies in mobilizing humanitarian response. What is the balance between mainstream and new forms of media coverage? Do they cover different issues? Cover the same issues differently? Reach different audiences? How are different humanitarian actors using the new possibilities offered by technology? 

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