Not a seat was free on Tuesday 10 February at the Frontline Club, as a panel of experts convened for a discussion entitled Embedding with Aid Agencies: Editorial Integrity and Security Risks. The ideas of intention and interpretation dominated the evening, with the panel’s arguments and audience comments exposing a relationship of disconnect and simultaneous dependency between aid agencies and journalists. What happens when the two work together? The pros, cons, irritations and limitations experienced by both sides made for a lively debate.

L-r: Lisa Reilly and Siobhan Sinnerton

The event was organised in partnership with the European Interagency Security Forum and chaired by the co-founder and CEO of IRIN, Ben Parker. Speakers included: Polly Markandya, head of communications at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF); Lisa Reilly, executive coordinator of the European Interagency Security Forum (EISF); Michelle Betz, who works on media development with the UN and other aid agencies; and Siobhan Sinnerton, commissioning editor for news and current affairs at Channel 4.

The discussion began by covering the common ground between NGO workers and journalists. Betz, a former journalist herself, outlined the competitive economic picture. “The aid business really is big business, just as journalism is a business” she said. To a certain extent, NGOs and media outlets often share the same risks and liability issues when working in conflict and hostile environments. Betz experienced this first-hand when she was sentenced to five years hard labour by the Egyptian government for work that she did for an NGO. “It is not just journalists, such as those from Al Jazeera, that governments go after, but NGO workers as well,” she said.

Behind the simplified NGO-journalist dynamic remains a multi-faceted backdrop. Reilly reflected on her experience working at the European Interagency Security Forum (EISF). “Within NGOs we don’t have a consistent view, we often see gaps between the communications department and the rest of operations and programs in the first place,” she said. Nevertheless, when logistics are well planned, NGOs and journalists can work harmoniously with mutually beneficial results.

Sinnerton illustrated this point with a film made for Channel 4’s Unreported World on handicapped Syrian refugees in Lebanon, entitled The Invisible People. Sinnerton explained how Handicap International, the NGO involved in the film, saw a significant rise in donations after it aired. Sinnerton strongly advised that “transparency is the key for things not becoming massively unstuck in the field.” Apart from honesty, which all the panellists agreed was essential between NGOs and journalists, Markandya pointed out that it ultimately comes down to trust. “We have done a number of documentary projects recently and we have had to give up the illusion of control and trust the journalist to do a fair job,” she said.

What happens when the journalists themselves are unable to cover important stories?  This was the case with the recent high-risk Ebola epidemic in parts of West Africa. In order that the story reached the general public, Markandya explained how MSF partnered with a production company in order to design customised camera equipment that could be attached to doctors’ protective goggles and could withstand chemical de-contamination. The result was a pressing and highly emotive documentary broadcast by BBC Panorama.

L-r: Polly Markandya and Michelle Betz

However, too often the means of getting a story can taint relationships between aid organisations and journalists. Even when journalists abide by protocol, their good intentions can have a negative impact on the aid organisations involved. Reilly questioned, “should the journalists be saying ‘transport was provided by ‘X’ NGO’? It demonstrates the journalists’ ethics but what does that do to us and our security?”

While journalists go in and out of the field, NGOs often remain there in the longterm. Reilly emphasised how heavily their work relies on the acceptance of local communities, and how that fragile reality can be undone by careless reporters. Injecting the journalistic perspective, Sinnerton spoke in turn of the promises made by aid organisations that often contrasted with hostile receptions towards journalists on the ground. This steered the discussion back towards Markandya’s key argument that NGOs and journalists must work on “managing expectations”.

The dichotomy of protecting the subject versus exposing the story remains a sensitive one, and a number of audience members agreed that these two sides were often in opposition. Audience comments revolved around questions of favouritism between NGOs and certain news outlets, the difficulty of exercising complete transparency in practice, and the need for NGOs to relinquish control over media content. While aid workers and journalists may settle for what Betz called “a mutual mistrust,” the panel agreed that the understanding between the two has advanced. For all the new NGOs that are emerging globally and their young journalistic counterparts, this symbiotic relationship will no doubt continue.

Watch and listen back below:

Channel 4 presented its new series of Unreported World to a packed audience at the Frontline Club on October 31, followed by a panel discussion entitled “Reporting Social Change“.

Unreported World correspondents Aidan Hartley, Ramita Navai, Marcel Theroux, Jenny Kleeman, Seyi Rhodes, Channel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru Murthy and series editor Monica Garnsey introduced extracts from the upcoming programmes and talked about the change of focus from the reporter to the interviewee in the new series.

Aidan Hartley presented his report about a British Somali businessman facing the continuous threat of suicide bombers in Mogadishu by opening new restaurants in the area.

“This is the story that I had been ignoring all of these years since 1991 and it was so incredibly good for me to do… in this story, there are all the hopes that you can relate to what Somali’s want from the country.”

Ramita Navai discussed her piece about the increasing frequency of sexual attacks on women in Egypt since the revolution.

“I was trying to figure out why it was so bad in Egypt, in a way that it isn’t in other Middle Eastern countries… There are a few interesting answers that come out in the film that we think are very important and we’re really looking forward to it getting out there.”

Marcel Theroux reported on the elections of the opposition movements in Russia. His film follows Kseniya Sobchak, a Russian socialite who went from hosting reality TV to becoming a contender in the opposition elections.

“I thought she is someone who really might be a potential leader of the future in Russia, because she really does connect to the new generation. Her fans are much younger, they are social-media savvy… She is constantly tweeting about political issues”.

Jenny Kleeman discussed the issues highlighted in her report about police crackdowns on clubbers in Mumbai.

“It’s about the pace of social change (in India). You’ve got a country that is changing so rapidly but not all the constituents of that society are able to enjoy the benefits of that change, and some feel very threatened by it.”

Seyi Rhodes presented his film examining the pressure young baseball players from the Dominican Republic face from their trainers, as they try to be recruited by American teams.

“The reality for them is that outside of some sort of amazing talent that will make you millions, you’re likely to be picking sugar cane for the rest of your life… If you’re right down at the bottom, you’re looking for the big jump to raise the whole family out of poverty.”

C4 News anchor Krishnan Guru Murthy discussed his piece on the influence of conservative talk radio shows in the United States and the difference in broadcasting ethics in America.

“The temperature that this cultivates is angry, is very polarized…What we found is that you hear a lot of the same arguments… which I found pretty horrific… your biggest fear as a broadcaster is just talking to people who agree with one side or just think one thing and not really talking to a broad spectrum.”

The correspondents discussed why the new Unreported World series focuses more on the characters in the stories rather than the reporters:

“People get involved with a character, they become invested with that character,” said Seyi Rhodes.

Jenny Kleeman agreed:

“Our job as reporters is to help people feel empathy for people living very different lives on the other side of the world.”

The new series of Unreported World starts Friday November 2, at 7.30 pm.

Watch the full discussion here:

To launch the new series, Channel 4 invites you to an exclusive talk: ‘Reporting Social Change’, introducing a line-up including reports on Indonesian anti-smoking activists trying to stem the epidemic of child smoking, British Somali businessmen ignoring the continuing threat of suicide bombers in Mogadishu to start up a flourishing sector, and a police crack-down on clubbers in Mumbai.

Unreported World correspondents Marcel Theroux, Jenny Kleeman, Ramita Navai, Seyi Rhodes, Aidan Hartley, C4 News anchor Krishnan Guru Murthy and Series Editor Monica Garnsey will be present to introduce extracts from the programmes and talk about the highlights, challenges and dangers of reporting on new kinds of conflict.

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This Autumn Unreported World’s intrepid reporters welcome a formidable new colleague, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, the Channel 4 News presenter, as they investigate stories from some of the most difficult and hidden parts of the world.

In this series they reveal official corruption in South Africa’s townships, capture the astonishing lifestyle of Nigeria’s ‘millionaire pastors’, follow Paralympians in Gaza hoping to get to London 2012 and in Uganda they profile a hospital offering pioneering surgery, saving babies from a deadly brain condition. This latest run of Unreported World will continue to deliver compelling investigate reports that reveal remarkable characters living extreme lives.

To mark the launch of the series, Channel 4 invite you to join Siobhan Sinnerton, Commissioning Editor for News & Current Affairs for an exclusive talk. With reporters Evan Williams, Seyi Rhodes, Jenny Kleeman, Oliver Steeds, Peter Oborne and Ramita Navai as they reveal the highlights, challenges and dangers of their extraordinary jobs.

Next week we will be joined by the Guardian’s Luke Harding and the BBC’s Angus Roxburgh to discuss their experiences reporting from Russia and whether the country is a Mafia State.

There are two third party events next week; on Monday you are invited to join the Unreported World team as they launch their autumn series. On Wednesday Communications Inc will be bringing together a panel to discuss whether increased media attention on the state of our oceans can help save them.
 

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