Doing Good and Looking Good in Global Humanitarian Reporting: Is Philanthrojournalism good news?

This chapter investigates if and how a private donor’s apparent motivation to ‘look good’ – or to generate symbolic capital – interacts with a news organization’s ability to ‘do good’ by producing public service content. We address this issue by reporting on the findings of a year-long study of the online humanitarian news organisation – IRIN – as it became primarily funded by a new donor. We argue that whilst it is possible that the Foundation’s pursuit of symbolic capital may have had some effect on how IRIN sought to ‘do good’, it did not appear to affect the extent to which IRIN was either willing or able to ‘do good’. Indeed, our analysis makes clear that the influence of the Foundation only had an effect on IRIN when it combined with other factors, especially journalists’ own values and organizational strategies. Ultimately, this case highlights the limits of generalized claims about the likely influence of a donor’s desire to ‘look good’ on a news organization

Utilization of cognitive support in episodic free recall as a function of apolipoprotein E and vitamin B12 or folate among adults aged 75 years and older

Apolipoprotein E (APOE), vitamin B12, and folate were examined in relation to free recall among 167 community-based older adults. Cognitive support at encoding and retrieval was also taken into account. Participants were classified as APOE e4 or non-e4 allele carriers and as either low or normal vitamin B12 or folate status. A significant association was identified between low vitamin B12 and the e4 genotype in respect to free recall, but only in circumstances of low cognitive support. This result remained after removing dementia cases that occurred up to 6 years after testing. A similar, but nonsignificant, trend was evident in relation to folate. The research is discussed with reference to vulnerability models and genetic influences on brain reserves

Foundations, philanthropy and international journalism

News stories about international development and humanitarian crises are expensive to produce and frequently neglected by the mainstream media. This paper examines the private foundations that are stepping in to finance this news and their growing influence over journalism and international news content

Humanitarian communication in a post-truth world

When people look online for information about humanitarian crises, they increasingly encounter media contentthat blurs the line between reality and fiction. This includes everything from rumour and exaggeration to partisanjournalism and completely invented stories designed to look like real news (so-called‘fake news’). This articleshows that disinformation is causing real and serious harm to those affected by humanitarian emergencies; it canundermine the ability of humanitarian workers to provide relief; and it has exacerbated conflict and violence.Disinformation is also making it harder for journalists to report on the humanitarian sector, and hold the powerfulto account, because it undermines audience trust in information more generally. The article concludes byconsidering interventions that could address the challenges of disinformation. It argues for more support ofquality journalism about humanitarian crises, as well as media literacy training. Finally, it is crucial that aidagencies and news outlets commit to accuracy and fact checking in their reporting and campaigning