Anna Batcheller | Jan. 20, 2010
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| Photo by John Patishnock |
| Students in J560 heard journalist Jacqueline Salmon talk about nonprofits and journalists working in disaster zones in a teleconference last week. "It becomes a very close community between journalists and nonprofits," she said. |
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“For journalists right now the major issue is to get in and get the story,” said Salmon, who covered the aftermath of Sept. 11, Hurricane Katrina, the Southeast Asia tsunami and Hurricane Gustav during her reporting career.
The J560/V550 class, cross-listed in the School of Journalism and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, is a pilot course aimed at examining the relationship between the media and nonprofit organizations. Ralph Winslow Visiting Professor Jim Bright and SPEA’s Leslie Lenkowsky, who met Jacqueline Salmon at the 2005 summit on Philanthropy and the Media, co-teach the course.
Salmon said because transportation is so difficult, reporters often have to rely on nonprofit organizations to enter the country and move within its borders.
“Journalists will hook up with the nonprofit community and go in with them,” Salmon said. “It becomes a very close community between journalists and nonprofits.”
Journalists also have to be self-supporting, she added, and be able to report to headquarters from the streets by satellite phone.
For nonprofit organizations, the biggest issue is to get a button on their Web sites so people may donate, Salmon said. Some nonprofits reach out in other ways, like the Red Cross’ agreement with The Wireless Foundation to allow monetary donations through texting.
“People have this obsession with (wanting to donate) clothing during disasters,” she noted. “What’s needed right now is cash.”
While the United Nations usually directs relief efforts in disaster zones, the Haiti UN team lost more than 100 people in the earthquake, Salmon said, so the role of the UN is crippled. The Haiti government is also “flat on its back,” with members of parliament homeless after government buildings collapsed. Instead, the U.S. government is stepping in to help coordinate the relief.
Throughout the class and the conversation with Salmon, the professors encouraged critical thinking on the role of the media and nonprofits. Students asked Salmon about broader theoretical issues, including gaps in media coverage of disasters.
“Journalists have a short attention span, and sadly this will eventually drop off their radar and Haiti will be left to rebuild,” she said.
She also noted the gap in reporting the role of religious organizations and the less dramatic stories on the ground. Journalists tend to lay Western expectations on the Haiti situation, she said.
Regarding social media, Salmon said that the Red Cross is ahead of everyone, using Facebook, Twitter and other sites to raise money and awareness. But referring to negative comments on the Red Cross Facebook wall, she noted that, “you can lose control over your message a lot more easily with social media.”
Salmon also laid out a pattern of disasters. At the beginning, nonprofits can do no wrong, she said. As the weeks go on, however, and journalists look for fresh angles, nonprofits seem to do nothing right.
Students reflected on her comments.
“It’s interesting to think about how it works,” said graduate journalism student Kelsey Keag, “how nonprofits are set up to work together and how journalists integrate into that atmosphere.”
“From a journalist’s perspective, if you’re going over, you’ve got to go out there and be a good communicator,” added graduate journalism student Amondia White. “Also, you’ve got to be entrepreneurial and get yourself out there.”
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