NEWS REPORTING AND THE POWER OF THE IMAGE

PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES and ACTIVITIES
Because of our dependence on visual media, some media critics have expressed concern about how certain events, in particular disasters, are presented in the media.
Examine media coverage of current events and issues and assess to what extent these concerns are valid. Discuss reactions to images of people personally affected by tragedy or disaster. Research and reflect on the strategies that are used by journalists working in mainstream and alternative media to depict the emotional impact of events while maintaining people’s privacy and dignity.

Research and analyze the news coverage of a major event such as the earthquake in Haiti, the Asian tsunami, or the genocide in Rwanda. This case study should focus on the images from news coverage and the representations of people and issues connected to these events.5
Teachers can survey the Internet to locate the images that appeared in the mainstream media coverage of these events. The following questions can be used to analyze the coverage and the images in detail:
● Describe what was represented on television and in newspaper coverage. Identify the images that were used most often. Examine how these representations are constructed, considering the use of camera angles, the composition of a photograph, types of shots, who or what is shown in the footage/photograph and who or what is excluded
● What message is conveyed through the use of these images? What story do the images tell? Assess the potential of these images to become iconic. What impact might these images have on audiences? Consider the effect of the images on the viewer’s understanding of, or relationship to, the subject
● Discuss whether or not information about the event that doesn’t exist in images will be remembered. Explore the power of images to ‘obliterate’ other information not contained in visual form. What are the implications of this for an informed citizenship?
For example www.rwanda-genocide.org/multimedia.html

The power of the visual

People are hardwired to respond to imagery: The visual cortex is the largest system in the human brain. While reading is a skill we must learn, picture processing is an ability we’re all born with, and the language of pictures is universal.

Despite heaps of brain science and social media statistics pointing to the power of visual communications, many nonprofits still give images short shrift. I’ve seen countless groups agonize over every word in a brochure or blog post, and then drop a stock image into place, almost as an afterthought.

You need look no further than your Facebook newsfeed to understand why this is a mistake. In this era of information overload, we’ve all become skimmers and filterers. Words run together on the screen, but pictures draw the eye.

Representation of disasters

When disaster strikes, newsrooms swing into action, with reporters working long shifts to cover breaking events. Huge amounts of coverage are typically devoted to the immediate aftermath of a disaster, as stories of victims emerge. Occasionally reporters will delve into issues of community preparedness — both strengths and weaknesses — and spotlight issues that could help mitigate future disasters. But such reports are less common. Particularly with the national media, disaster coverage appears to have its own distinctive patterns that differ from reporting on other major news events. And the frames for coverage — the ways journalists select and package information — may not always be ideal for civic learning and future policy decision-making.

In the 2013 study “Disaster News: Framing and Frame Changing in Coverage of Major U.S. Natural Disasters, 2000-2010,” published in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, J. Brian Houston and Cathy Ellen Rosenholtz of the University of Missouri and Betty Pfefferbaum of the University of Oklahoma analyzed press accounts of 11 major events: Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, Hurricane Charley in 2004, Hurricane Frances in 2004, Hurricane Ivan in 2004, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Hurricane Rita in 2005, the Evansville tornado in 2005, the California wildfire in 2007, the Super Tuesday tornado outbreak in 2008, the Iowa floods in 2008, and the Arkansas floods in 2010. The field of news analyzed included 927 reports from five major news outlets: the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the New York Times, ABC World News and CBS Evening News.

Key study findings included:

• The data showed that “on average, mass media covered natural disasters for shorter periods of time than other issues; that media coverage tended to focus on the current impact of disasters on humans, the built environment and the natural environment (i.e., who was hurt or killed and what was destroyed); that disaster economics was an important topic; that disaster media coverage generally focused on the state and region related to the event; and that disaster news was largely about what was happening now.”
• News topics typically have a life of about 18.5 months in the media, but disaster stories were only reported on for 12 months. (The researchers note that outlets in communities affected by disasters covered the events for longer periods of time.) Further, if coverage of Hurricane Katrina is excluded, disasters were only covered for an average of 178 days among the national outlets examined.
• Nearly two-thirds of the coverage, 62.8%, occurred in the first 30 days after the disaster began.
• Early coverage tends to focus on physical damage, while later coverage looks at the human interest and political dimensions. “Given the significant impact that disasters can have on the human, built and natural environments, the media’s tendency to move away from an environment frame is worthy of further examination.”
• The findings ultimately “raise questions about the implications of such disaster coverage on wider political conversations about disaster-related issues such as disaster aid, environmental protection, global climate change or the costs of human development in areas prone to natural disasters.”

“From a preparedness perspective, media coverage can help communities identify potential threats, advocate for needed changes in the built environment, and inform personal and family disaster readiness,” the researchers conclude. “Media coverage could [also] inform citizens of available post-disaster services and provide a forum for community planning about post-disaster rebuilding. From resilience perspective, ‘responsible’ media could play a key role in creating a narrative about the disaster for the community.”

Representation of gender

GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
Gender issues have become more and more important on the development agenda of international development agencies (such as the UN), national and regional government systems as well as civil society organizations. In 1995 the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on
Women, highlighted the key role of media to promote gender equality in all spheres. All stakeholders are called to join forces to combat “stereotyping of women and inequality in women’s access to and participation in all communication systems, especially in the media”.

There is clear need to emphasize the role of media and other information providers such as libraries, archives and the Internet to achieve the objectives of the Declaration. In a classroom discussion explore questions such as: How can media and other information providers effectively assess their gender sensitive responsiveness, and how can civil society in turn, evaluate this responsiveness? Are media merely transmitters of information relating to gender equality or are they joint partners in operationalizing the Beijing Declaration, enabling the creation of knowledge and multiplying its outcomes? If they are indeed a partner, how can media effectively play this role?
For many years stakeholders globally have focused on the media development to address issues surrounding gender equality and women’s empowerment. MIL is necessary for users of media and information systems and can promote gender sensitive media behaviour. Through MIL, audiences (readers, viewers and listeners) are equipped with the necessary competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes) to assess the gender sensitive performances of media and information systems, and to participate in them.

● Ask teacher to carry out a small survey to answer some of the following questions: Are media organizations promoting MIL in your country? How are they doing this? What evidence exists to indicate that they are? Provide specific examples if possible. In what ways can MIL help to address gender equality? What local development programmes relating to gender issues exist in your countries and communities? What are some of the challenges in the implementation of these programmes? To what extent are the media and other information providers involved in these projects? What are the creative ways in which you think MIL can be used to mainstream gender
issues in media and information and to improve the representation of women?
Through these and other questions, research experiences, good practices and
make recommendations in considering gender equality, and media and information
literacy. What are your personal views on gender equality? How might your own views and experience influence your interpretation of gender representations in the media and other information sources?
There are two main perspectives in relation to women and media and other information providers. One is in relation to the status of women working in media and other information providers and the other is about the coverage or the image of women in the media and other information providers.

● Consider some of the findings of the Global Media Monitoring Project 2010 and the
Global Report on the Status of Women in the Newsroom (see resource list at the end of this unit) or any other related research relating women and media and other information providers. Discuss any combinations of these questions: What are the implications of these findings individually and collectively? What types of images of women are prevalent in the media?

What social, economical, cultural and political factors might be the motivation behind these images? Should this be a cause for concern? Should your government take action to address negative images? If yes, describe. What should be should betaken by civil society to address these matters? Do you think it is better for media to take action through self-regulation rather than by imposition from governments or other external bodies? Explain. Should it be different for publicly funded media and other information providers than for private ones? Do you think publicly funded media have a particular obligation to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment? Have MIL empowered you to take action? How?

What are your personal views on gender equality? How might your own view and experience influence your interpretations of gender representation in media and other information providers? Do you think that if more women work in media and other information providers that the images of women vis-a-vis men would change? Why do you think so? What does research say about this?

The trainer should consider developing similar activities, as the ones above which
are related to gender, for other marginalised groups such as the physically disabled, indigenous groups, minority ethnic groups and poor inner-city or rural communities etc.
The goal should be to explore the representation of these groups in the media in order to understand how these representations are created and for whom, and to question who benefits if these representations are accepted, and who is disadvantaged as a result.
ASSESSMENT RECOMMENDATIONS
Analysis and evaluation of visuals in news reporting – including technical/design
components
Identification and assessment of reporting procedures that best contribute to the
development of an informed citizenship
Assessment of the impact of visuals on the audience