What are the current problems and positive sides in the relationship between media and NGOs in times of crises?

董雯靜

The concept of non-governmental organizations （NGOs） early origins in United Nations. In 2003， the United Nations proposed non-governmental organizations in its official documents， which were described as nongovernmental， self-restraining and non-profit organizations established voluntarily by citizens （Maguire& Hardy， 2006）. The formation of NGOs is mainly based on common interests and goals. As a new type of social organization， NGOs are characterised as public， autonomy， voluntary and public-spirited， and these organizations have advantages in technical expertise and organization mechanism， especially in times of crises， playing an increasingly important role in todays world （Lang， 2012）. Meanwhile， with the improvement of network， the rapid development of digital technology and contemporary media techniques， people have entered a new age of the media （Kress， 2003）. In todays context， the media and non-governmental organizations have a close relationship. When a crisis comes， the cooperation of NGOs and the media facilitate to overcome the crisis， because the media could provide immediate and reliable information for NGOs in order to help NGOs rescue people in danger effectively and accurately， avoiding a waste of assistant resources. For example， a great earthquake occured in Haiti in 2010， and in this crisis， the International Committee of the Red Cross， Oxfam， the International Rescue Committee and other well-known NGOs were quickly and actively involved in relief activities with the help of internet， the media and computer communication， saving the lives of many people （Redmond， Mardel， Taithe， et al.2011）. Although non-governmental organizations and the media could promote each other in times of crises， there are still some problems between NGOs and the media. This essay will analyze the positive sides and some problems between NGOs and the media using some crises as examples.

The co-operation of NGOs and the media is quite important for people in times of crises， and it brings enormous positive effects. One of the obvious advantage of this collaboration is that NGOs could obtain necessary resources support from the media， such as the volunteer resources for rescuing and anti-disaster material resources. （Seo， Kim& Yang，2009）. It is better to understand and analyze the relationship of resource-inter-dependence between NGOs and the media based on the theory of Resource Dependence. The survival and development of the organization needs to absorb resources from its surroundings， and no organization can be completely self-sufficient （Pfeffer& Salancik， 2003）. In this era of all media， with the emergence of the emerging media， such as Internet， mobile phones， micro-blogs and blogs， such emerging media provide many opportunities of information dissemination for NGOs and people （Hanrath& Leggewie，2013）. This means that different types of media and massive information are filled with all aspects of our daily lives in todays world. Because of this， it is good for NGOs to give full play to public crises management and improve the efficiency with the help of the media. Firstly， the media could provide timely and effective information for NGOs when in crisis， and it may ensure NGOs to arrive at the disaster rescue site quickly， saving more lives in crises at optimal time. For example， a 9.0 earthquake occurred in Japan in March 2011， and many Japanese and local media delivered rescue information and the suffering condition with pictures and videos to NGOs and the public， which could speed up the efficiency of emergency rescue for NGOs to some extent （Kingston， 2012）. Secondly， NGOs can collect more needed resources in crises with the help of the media， such as water， food and money. If NGOs need some resources and they tell the media， the media will publish reports and messages for NGOs on television and social media sites to help them obtain these resources. Furthermore， people from different countries can also know the actual circumstances of crises and what rescue resources are needed by NGOs and victims through the media. In this way， the resources NGOs and victims obtained are not only the local resources but can also from different countries. For instance， when a great earthquake struck Wenchuan in Sichuan China in 2008， many NGOs and people all round the world provided swift emergency assistance to Chinese people （Lu& Xu， 2014）. Thus， the media could offer NGOs the very important resources and support in crises， and these resources NGOs needed are also become resources to cover news for the media， which is a good side for the relationship between NGOs and the media in times of crises.

Apart from the positive side of providing powerful material support in the relationship between NGOs and the media， there are also have some other benefits for NGOs and people in crisis based on the positive interaction between the media and NGOs. Firstly， NGOs can amplify problems with the help of the media in times of crises （Regester& Larkin， 2008）. In general， some crises which are the concern of NGOs， sometimes do not receive the attention of the general public and the media attention， particularly for such crises happened in some undeveloped and remote areas. For crisis events， attention and care is power. As a result， it is an effective way to amplify the problems of crisis concerned by NGOs to save more peoples lives by making full use of the spread characteristics of all media era in this mode of NGOs organizational working pattern. For example， Oxfam is a nongovernmental organization， working with the government and aiming at the people of all sections of society without boundaries of nation， class， race， gender and region. And Oxfam has been trying to address problems and some crises in the world， such as poverty and disease， helping the poor to get respect and care （Watkins， 1995）. Oxfam has special emphasis on publishing information through the media， especially through the new media platforms， such as Facebook， Flickr， Twitter， and YouTube， to receive more attention on crisis events， and Oxfam has been made great contribution to poverty reduction with the help of the media in such areas where some crises occurred in recent decades （Jenkins， 2005）. Secondly， the media help NGOs carry out and intensify social mobilization when a crisis event occurs. In this era of all media， the information communication model is everyone passing to everyone， and modern technology has brought a revolutionary change in the fields of communication. In this way， NGOs can spread texts， voices， pictures， and videos on different kinds of media platforms， such as newspapers， television， magazines， and Internet （Shaw， Hamm & Knott， 2000）. Based on this， there is a previous study which has demonstrated that 100 large-scale NGOs in the United States have been using Twitter to deliver information and do online interaction， and adopting such strategies to create online communities， and then these NGOs call for community members to join public welfare activities， such as sending donations to these people in need of help in times of crises （Lovejoy & Saxton， 2012）. For instance， the Chinese famous nongovernmental organization One Foundation cooperated with the Chinses great influential new media platforms， such as Youku， Tencent and Sina， to carry out a public welfare activity called One Foundation welfare impression festival in 2012. This activity collected many videos about the lives of children living in undeveloped countries and suffering from a crisis， to encourage people to watch videos and send a donation to help these people （Wu & Chan， 2012）. Because of this， it is important for the development of NGOs to proactively interact with the public and carry out social mobilization by using the new media platforms in a good way. Thirdly， the media assist NGOs to shape a good social impression for the public by reporting the rescue efforts that NGOs participate in， because some small-scale NGOs sometimes are facing some problems including the unclear legal status of social organizations and the lack of influence and reputation. In this way， when crisis event occurs， the media coverage could help these NGOs gain recognition from the public （Hilhorst， 2000）. Thus， the media give a chance for NGOs to foster their development and enable NGOs to do the rescue work more effectively in times of crises.

On the other hand， some current problems still exist in the relationship between the media and NGOs in the crisis. For shaping the public image of NGOs， the media is a significant platform， and it is also the main way for the public to know more about NGOs. When NGOs participate in some crisis events， apart from the people at the place of the rescue， the general public cannot have direct approach to the rescue efforts by NGOs， and they can only know the situation through the media. This indicates that the media represents the public to perform the right to be informed and the right of supervision， and then the media processes and reshape information to create the image of NGOs for the public， so the media holds the key to the public perception of NGOs to a great extent. However， it also produces some problems for NGOs. Firstly， the media or the media practitioners sometimes are likely to be influenced by the standard of market value， reporting some sensational news coverages for pursing audience ratings and circulation， which misleads the public to improper point rather than the relief effort， and it also causes some small-scale NGOs hard to develop well because of the lack of attention by the media （Pearson， Brand， Archbold， et al. 2001）. Taking a Chinese nongovernmental organization called ZHONGGAI as an example， it was set up in 2008 with the aim of helping the children suffering from AIDS. For protecting these childrens privacy， many details of its rescue activities cannot be made public， so the resources can be published on the media is not adequate and the media cannot acquire audience ratings by reporting this. As a result， this organization and its rescue work are unlikely to be reported by the media. Therefore this organization and its rescue work stopped working due to the shortage of funds and resources （Br?utigam， 2011）. Secondly， the image of NGOs shaped by the media sometimes has the trend of patternization （Corneli， Danoff， Peirce， et al. 2015）. Many news coverages intend to describe that NGOs are receiving huge donations， and such reports present a simplex image of NGOs for the public. Apart from receiving donations， it is difficult for people to know more the rescue work made by NGOs and the goals of NGOs （Fenton， 2010）. Because of the universality of news reports， the image of a large number of NGOs are all reliable and have strong credibility by the media.? By this means， it has a harmful impact of different NGOs on shaping its public image respectively， because some news coverages reduce the characteristics and uniqueness of different NGOs.

In conclusion， for crises events， the cooperation between NGOs and the media is significant. The interaction between NGOs and the media in times of crises have more positive side. The media can help NGOs shape its image and raise its profile. In addition， the media improve the efficiency of the rescue work done by NGOs to save more peoples lives. Apart from the positive sides， there are still some problems in the relationship between the media and NGOs. Some news coverages may weaken the characteristics of vaious NGOs. For the future， how to promote the cooperation between the media and NGOs will make a huge different in the rescue work in crisis events. NGOs can acquire more resources with the help of media， and in terns， the media can place high value on different types of NGOs to advance the development.

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