This study explores the relationship between media coverage and humanitarian funding in the context of three crises: drought in Kenya in 2023, the 2023 refugee crisis in its neighboring country, South Sudan, and the 2023 earthquake in Syria. It delves into the ways in which media representations of humanitarian crises influence the allocation of financial resources for relief efforts. My goal is that the findings of this research contribute to the field of Communication for Development by finding out if, and also offering insights into how media can be strategically utilized to garner support for humanitarian causes, as well as demonstrating that other factors, other than the media, may have potential implications when it comes to the prioritization of aid efforts. My key research question is, “How does media coverage affect humanitarian funding?” And the sub-question: “Apart from professional journalists and media organizations, are there other factors influencing donors on who gets their funding?” The study is carried out under the framework of “the CNN Effect” theory. There is a lot of past research both validating and challenging this theory. At the end of this study, we find ourselves in the middle – on one side validating the theory and agreeing that it plays a role in shaping humanitarian funding, and on the other side challenging it because there are other critical factors considered by donors when allocating funds for humanitarian crises. The three case studies that we look at: the Kenya Drought Response Plan 2023, the South Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan 2023, and the Syria Earthquake Flash Appeal 2023 are diverse both in terms of context – two of them in Eastern Africa and one in the Middle East; nature – two of them are classified by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) as flash appeals while the other is classified as a regional response plan; and the duration under which they ran. We look at the circumstances under which these response plans were created, how much media coverage was received by the crisis they were created to support, and how much funding they each received. We go further to investigate how much influence media coverage had on the funding they received. Communication plays a significant role in shaping societal values and priorities, and understanding the dynamics between media influence and humanitarian funding is therefore important for media practitioners, policymakers, academics in the field of Communication for Development, and the general public with an interest in social change. The outcomes of this research will not only enhance our understanding of the complexity of the interconnectedness between media, humanitarian funding and other factors but also provide practical recommendations for future research on this subject.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-69292 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Orao, Eleanor Achieng |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för konst, kultur och kommunikation (K3) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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