Global Challenges Foundation
Global Challenges Quarterly Report Watchdog for the future: the journalist as pioneer of a new global narrative GLOBAL CHALLENGES QUARTERLY REPORT WATCHDOG FOR THE FUTURE: THE JOURNALIST AS PIONEER OF A NEW GLOBAL NARRATIVE
Quarterly report team Project leader: Carin Ism Editor in chief: Julien Leyre Researcher and project coordinator: Waldemar Ingdahl Art director: Elinor Hägg Graphic design: Erik Johansson
Contributors Netta Ahituv Katie G. Nelson Journalist, Haaretz Newspaper. Journalist and photographer.
Kristine Angeli Sabillo Dina Samak Journalist. Journalist, Al Ahram.
Peter Berglez Amanda Siddharta Professor, Media and Communication Journalist. Studies, Jönköping University. Lynn Walsh Janine di Giovanni Journalist. Edward Murrow Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations. Amy Wilentz Writer and professor, Literary Journalism Katharina Kloss program, University of California. Editor in chief, Cafébabel.
Cristina Manzano Director, esglobal.
2 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 THE GLOBAL CHALLENGES FOUNDATION works to incite deeper under- standing of the global risks that threaten humanity and catalyse ideas to tackle them. Rooted in a scientific analysis of risk, the Foundation brings together the brightest minds from academia, politics, business and civil society to forge transformative approaches to secure a better future for all.
The views expressed in this report are those of the authors. Their statements are not necessarily endorsed by the affiliated organisations or the Global Challenges Foundation.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 3 4 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 Contents Preface 7 Executive Summary 8 Part 1. Watchdog for the future 12 1.1 A front row seat to history – Lynn Walsh 15 1.2 The journalist and the UN – Janine di Giovanni 21 1.3 Keeping powers in check – Amanda Siddharta 27 1.4 Reshaping climate reporting: four challenges and one sign of hope – Kristine Angeli Sabillo 33
Part 2. The journalist as pioneer of a new global narrative 38 2.1 Champions for change: building global narratives in a fragmented media landscape – Cristina Manzano 41 2.2 From fragments to pattern: weaving new global narratives – Amy Wilentz 47 2.3 Time for the rise of global journalism – Peter Berglez 53 2.4 Beyond Babel: participatory platforms and cross-border narratives – Katharina Kloss 59 2.5 The power of a single frame: photojournalism and global consciousness – Katie G. Nelson 65 2.6 How to overcome public indifference?– Netta Ahituv 71 2.7 Relatable heroes – Dina Samak 77
Endnotes 82 Continuing the conversation 83
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 5 MATS ANDERSSON Vice-chairman, Global Challenges Foundation, Former CEO, Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund, co-founder Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition
6 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 PREFACE
Preface
lobal risks require global solutions. For global institutions to gain legitimacy, new Global solutions require global global narratives that bind us together are an essential institutions. This is the premise for element. The nation state has only been around as a the work of the Global Challenges dominant form of social organization for about 300 Foundation. In line with this premise, years, yet the powerful narrative around nations has Gin 2017, the Foundation launched the New Shape Prize made innumerable individuals willing to sacrifice Competition to develop a blueprint for new global everything, including their life, for that idea of the governance models that might help us address our nation. What alternative stories of similar binding force most pressing challenges. The competition received can bring us together and inspire collective action on more than 2700 entries from 122 countries. The a global scale at this crucial moment in history, when winners, selected by a jury of international experts, will action on ecological issues alone in the next 50 years be announced to the world on May 29 at the New Shape will determine the course of the next 10,000? Forum in Stockholm. To address this question, in this report, we turned to Global institutions, however, cannot be created, journalists, the voice of the people and storytellers of updated, or indeed adopted, without global support. our times. We asked them to share their reality – how Therefore, the work of the Global Challenges their work can ensure that powers are accountable Foundation extends beyond the New Shape for their actions and lack thereof beyond the short- competition to a range of activities that engage other term, how the dispersed elements of an increasingly sectors of society whose support is crucial to new connected global story can come together, and how global governance models. These include the present collective action can be catalyzed on a global scale. quarterly report series, and an Educators’ Challenge Journalists, indeed, are the pioneers of our new global offering ten prizes of 5000$ to develop effective narrative, and watchdogs of our collective future. engagement strategies on the topic of global risks and global institutional reform.
Everyone has a role to play in this process. Business leaders, by choosing how companies are managed and what KPIs they use to measure success. Public administrators at all levels of government, by supporting the development of more effective and better aligned policy frameworks. Tech innovators, featured in our previous Quarterly Report, by developing the technological infrastructure that can support new forms of global governance. But an Mats Andersson even more crucial role may be that of developing the Vice-chairman, Global Challenges Foundation, new narratives that will cement a sense of collective Former CEO, Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund, belonging beyond the borders of nations. co-founder Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Executive summary Julien Leyre, Global Challenges Foundation.
he Global Challenges and the fake, how can journalists Foundation Quarterly ensure that this right is met? When Reports examine how decisions made on one point of the the world is currently planet often affect people on the jeopardized by global other side, it is vital that journalists Trisks of catastrophic magnitude, can maintain first hand access to and what solutions might directly leaders, no matter where they are. or indirectly reduce, mitigate or – at Without this, we would be without best – eliminate those risks. In this perspective, without context, and in issue, we focus more particularly on some cases, without the truth. the stories that drive global action and the writers of those stories. What As the growing threats of war, we need to see at this point in global weapons of mass destruction and history is global action. This requires climate change increase the need global narratives. Therefore, we give for a form of global government center stage to voices from the global that can protect vulnerable media to share perspectives on their populations, what is the role of work. journalists when reporting on our foremost international institution, The first section of the report, the United Nations? Janine di ‘watchdog for the future’, offers four Giovanni, Edward Murrow Senior pieces that explore the role of the Fellow with the Council on Foreign journalist in guiding public action Affairs in New York, reflects on and holding institutions to account. this essential question in ‘The In the opening piece, Emmy award- journalist and the UN’. In spite winning journalist Lynn Walsh of brilliant work from the new advocates the need for journalists Secretary General Guterres, the to occupy ‘A front row to history’. UN still faces numerous challenges The public has a right to know what and limitations, particularly the is happening around them. But in need to placate the current United a world that is increasingly global, States administration. Journalists where facts are often unclear and have a role to play in this context, technological developments blur by working with the organization the distinction between the real to continuously increase its
8 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
transparency, and meet the request related issues, there is a lack of of our times for truth telling. journalists trained on the issue, funding for climate reporting is If anyone has the power to solve inadequate, and multi-sensory global crises, it would seem to stories accessible to non-expert be our officially elected leaders. audiences are difficult to produce. However, the leader of a nation However, global collaboration only holds responsibility to their around climate reporting has national constituencies. This is the already given birth to remarkable premise for Indonesian journalist projects, and offers great hope for Amanda Siddharta’s contribution, the future. ‘Keeping powers in check’. How can we incentivize leaders to go beyond The second half of the report the narrow terms of their mandate focuses on the need to develop and address the global challenges new types of stories that effectively that will affect their constituents in connect events happening around the future? Journalists have a crucial the planet and make sense of our role to play in underlining not only new shared condition. Media power crime and corruption, but also abuse today suffers from the simultaneous of power in the form of neglect. They shockwaves of changing can alert the public when leaders are business models, fake news, and not serving its long-term interests fragmentation through social and effectively fail to deliver on networks, explains Cristina Manzano their mandate, and thus increase the from esglobal in ‘Champions for chances that leaders will live up to change: building global narratives their moral obligation. in a fragmented media landscape’. In this context, how can the media Media interest towards climate construct and disseminate global change swelled in the run-up to narratives? In the past century, COP21, but after the event, coverage governments and political leaders was neither sustained nor effective played a major role in building in mobilizing people. Why does global consensus. Today, however, climate reporting fall short of a broader range of actors are trying achieving the effects required to make their voices heard. In this by the seriousness of the issue, new landscape, an incipient global inquires journalist Kristine Sabillo conscience is emerging around in ‘Reshaping climate reporting: issues led by “champions” of all four challenges and one sign of sorts, through a bottom-up approach hope’. Indeed, the structure of media that harnesses the power of organizations favors regular beats technology. A new role for the media and news that sell over climate may be to identify those champions,
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 9 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
and help their voices stand out from global journalism’. Instead, what we the surrounding noise. need today is global journalism, an approach to reporting concerned with Amy Wilentz, writer and professor the interconnectedness of things, of literary journalism at the where local or domestic affairs are University of California, explores contextualized in relation to global a similar topic from a different sources. perspective in ‘From fragments to pattern: weaving new global Could new forms of participatory narratives’. With digital development media powered by digital technology and greater ease of transport, human unify people around new global stories are increasingly intertwined narratives? Katharina Kloss, editor today. Yet the connection between in chief of Cafébabel, one such the broader narrative and local platform started in 2001 to share circumstances is often lost, whether stories by and for young Europeans, for climate change, the global explores this question in ‘Beyond refugee crisis, or the ongoing nuclear babel: participatory digital platforms weapons disaster. Three things must and cross-border narratives’. Four change for global reporting to better characteristics of participatory digital weave the stories unfolding across media are of particular relevance the planet. We need platforms and today: they support new forms of institutions where work can be shared cross-border investigations, they and fast translations made. We need allow stories to circulate across new models of collaboration and linguistic and cultural silos, they new cross-border agencies. Finally, support stories natively framed from we need financial support for those a global perspective, and they gather platforms and for cross-border audiences that reach beyond national investigative projects. boundaries. Thus, new media platforms, in Europe and elsewhere, In an increasingly connected might offer a path towards a deeper world, how can we address the sense of shared belonging beyond the democratic need to adequately borders of languages, cultures, and inform the public on cross-border nation states. issues, such as climate change, financial meltdowns, or big data Visual storytelling often moves society? Traditional foreign readers more than words ever could, correspondence overemphasizes as Katie Nelson, journalist and domestic interests, argues Peter photographer, states in ‘The power Berglez, professor of Media and of a single frame: photojournalism Communication Studies at Jönköping and global consciousness’. Powerful University in ‘Time for the rise of images not only make the news, but
10 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
they can also prompt collective action issue? People want hope, proposes to face a given challenge. With the Netta Ahituv from Haaretz in ‘How rise of digital connectivity, there has to overcome public indifference’. never been a better time to use the And so, by sharing positive stories power of photography. And yet, when that nurture this desire for hope, the the challenges of our times are more media can emphasize the urgency of intertwined than ever, and billions the environmental crisis and develop of photos – real and fake – are shared the need for action, while avoiding online everyday, what does the the risk of indifference. future of photojournalism look like? Emerging initiatives that not only When global challenges are harness the power of photography covered in the media, how much but also integrate data and research attention is paid to the most affected might serve as a rallying call to citizens? People don’t change their catalyze viewers into action on behalf beliefs based on facts and numbers, of the greater good. argues Dina Samak from El-Ahram in the final piece, ‘Relatable heroes’. The media should continually Inspiring stories of people who remind the public of what is choose hope over despair, however, important. But this comes with could have this effect. Therefore, a price: the more audiences are when giving disaster a human reminded of a particular issue, face, the media may do better than the more indifferent they become. showing only the victims. Relatable How can journalists overcome this heroes, if their stories are shared, challenge, particularly when it comes could inspire collective action beyond to the pressing global environmental the borders of nations.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 11 PART 1 – WATCHDOG FOR THE FUTURE
Part 1 Watchdog for the future
12 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 13 LYNN WALSH Lynn Walsh is an Emmy award-winning freelance journalist, creating content focused on government accountability, public access to information and freedom of expression issues. She’s also helping to rebuild trust between newsrooms and the public through the Trusting News project. She is currently based in San Diego, USA, and regularly contributes to Voice of San Diego, the Sunlight Foundation and the Society of Professional Journalists. Lynn also is an adjunct professor at Point Loma Nazarene University.
14 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 1.1. A FRONT-ROW SEAT TO HISTORY
1.1. A front-row seat to history
Lynn Walsh, journalist.
The public has a right to know what is happening around them. But in a world that is increasingly global, where facts are often unclear and technological developments often blur the distinction between the real and the fake, how can journalists ensure that this right is met? When decisions made on one point of the planet often affect people on the other side, it is vital that journalists can maintain first hand access to leaders, no matter where they are. Without this, we would be without perspective, without context, and in some cases, without the truth.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 15 1.1. A FRONT-ROW SEAT TO HISTORY
t’s a description I have heard more Between public relations teams bigger than once when people describe than some newsrooms and direct I what it is like to be a journalist. In communication through social media, a sense, it’s absolutely true. We cover access to politicians, government events as they happen, before they employees and business leaders is happen and after they happen. We becoming increasingly difficult. sometimes arrive on-scene before first In a world that is becoming more responders. We listen, we watch, we global, where decisions made on one question, we try to understand. point of the planet can often affect Being in a position to experience people on the other side, it is vital history first-hand may sound like that journalists can access leaders no an incredibly exciting opportunity, matter where they are if the public is and sometimes it is, but it is an to understand how governments and opportunity that comes with great businesses are operating, and what responsibility. impact their decisions will have, close Why? While a journalist is watching and far. Lack of access is a threat to a natural disaster or government democracy and freedom. And at the meeting unfold in front of them, they end of the day, it’s the public who are not just experiencing it, they are suffers the most. trying to remember everything while using their judgement and knowledge Technology has made to decipher what information, and in communication easier than ever what context, is the most important to but it has also allowed an ever more share with the public. confusing mix of information to I think – and certainly hope – we take over our inboxes and social can agree the public has a right to feeds, making it harder than ever certain information, a right to know before to sort fact from fiction. what is happening around them. It’s As digital technology progresses, a journalist’s role to fill that need and manipulated photographs, videos that right. and sound recordings are less and Sometimes that role is easy. We have less distinguishable from truthful straight facts. Nobody disputes them. originals, while armies of bots, less Story deadline met early. Most of the and less distinguishable from humans, time though it’s more complicated. can spread those fabricated facts and Very rarely are the facts cleanly laid the stories they support wider and out on a platter in front of us. Even wider. rarer: all sides agreeing with what is With all of this information coming being said. so quickly, journalists have to make This is becoming more and more sure they are deciphering what is the case when political leaders and real and what is fake – and on this those with power are involved. basis, what are facts, what is opinion,
16 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 1.1. A FRONT-ROW SEAT TO HISTORY
and what is pure propaganda. Once have to say, then research, fact-check that is figured out, the task is to then and provide context to what the make sure they can talk to the right powerful say. stakeholders and the people who will Journalists seek truth and report be impacted. it. We do so by minimizing harm to All of this becomes more difficult those involved. We act independently. when meetings are held behind closed We are transparent. We hold ourselves doors or information is withheld to accountable. protect those in power, particularly We produce stories that do not when crucial decisions are made make everyone happy. When we hold in distant international forums. If the powerful accountable, they push journalists are not allowed access to back. While it may be easy to take meetings or information, the public is what they say personally and even left in the dark as well. Without access, easier to back off our questioning, we without information, journalists have push forward and continue digging. a harder time doing their jobs, which We do this because our stories can is to keep you informed. help oppressed communities. Our When journalists have access, they stories can shed light into the darkest can fulfill their public duty: attending pit. long, sometimes arduous, government That’s why maintaining journalists’ meetings, public hearings and court access to the government, powerful cases, so the public knows what is institutions and individuals is so happening in their community and important. While there is more beyond, how they could be impacted information available from more and what people in power are doing. sources than ever (which is a great In some cases this means journalists thing), the role of a journalist, to are provided special access members help people make sense of it all, of the public are not. I have been is also more important than ever asked more than once why this access – particularly when things make is important. Why do journalists get sense only through complex chains access to a president, a prime minister, of causality that extend beyond the a CEO or government meetings? boundaries of a single country. As journalists we must keep this in The answer is, it’s all for you. mind ourselves. When we are given access, we must remember we have Without this access the public this access for the public. We must would be left in the dark, with only not let our personal relationships get information coming from those in the way. We must remember that in power. Would you trust that access does not mean we will turn a completely? I don’t. So, it’s journalists blind eye or ignore something we see, that listen to what those in power no matter the consequences.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 17 Without journalists and without access we would be without perspective, without context, and in some cases, without the truth.
18 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 1.1. A FRONT-ROW SEAT TO HISTORY
The same holds true in our even when they don’t, without an newsrooms, when we hand the story understanding of the context, they will over to an editor or a publisher, we fail to make proper sense. must make sure that the people we As journalists, we need to be saw and the voices we heard are where news is happening. We need indeed highlighted, not those an to be inside meetings with the editor or publisher wants to highlight stakeholders. We need to be walking from an office, a block, or a nation alongside the protesters to see away. what they see. We need to meet the When it comes to global stories this community. We need access. The is particularly important. We may public needs access. think that reaching across the planet Without journalists and without through phone calls or video chats is access we would be without enough to say that we have obtained perspective, without context, and access. But actually living somewhere, in some cases, without the truth. immersed in a culture, is different We would live in a world where from Skyping in once in a while. Many propaganda is accepted and facts can facts will get lost at a distance, and be debated.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 19 JANINE DI GIOVANNI Janine di Giovanni is an award-winning author, foreign correspondent and foreign policy analyst. She is currently the Edward Murrow Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, researching minorities in the Middle East. Janine di Giovanni has contributed to publications including The Times, Vanity Fair, Granta, The New York Times, and The Guardian, worked as Middle East editor at Newsweek, and is the author of The morning they came for us. She is also a frequent moderator of high-level panels, an analyst on foreign policy at conferences and has worked for the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, the UN, Harvard’s Kennedy School, Princeton, the LSE, and many other institutions. In 2016, she was awarded the Courage in Journalism Award for her distinguished work in war zones focusing on tracking war criminals over the past 25 years, and most recently in Syria. She tweets at @janinedigi.
20 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 1.2. THE JOURNALIST AND THE UN
1.2. The journalist and the UN
Janine di Giovanni, Edward Murrow Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations.
As the growing threats of war, weapons of mass destruction and climate change increase the need for a form of global government that can protect vulnerable populations, what is the role of journalists when reporting on the foremost international institution, the United Nations? In spite of brilliant work from the new Secretary General Guterres, the UN still faces numerous challenges and limitations, particularly the need to placate the United States under the leadership of Trump. Journalists have a role to play in this context, by working with the organization to continuously increase its transparency, and meet the request of our times for truth telling.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 21 1.2. THE JOURNALIST AND THE UN
ost-9/11 and post-Arab Spring, the past two decades. But he faces we are living in more precarious the extreme hostility of the United P times. More than ever, it is States, an important permanent obvious we need a form of global member of the Security Council, government to protect vulnerable under the administration of President populations against the threat of war, Trump. Guterres has had to placate weapons of mass destruction and the Washington, a job that one UN ravages of climate change. In such observer says takes up an enormous times, what role could and should amount of his time, and to monitor journalists play when reporting on the ‘learning curve’ of Nikki Haley, the people and institutions that are US Ambassador to the UN, who currently doing that much needed did not come from a foreign policy work – and foremost among them, the background. On both fronts, Guterres United Nations? has done an impressive job. It has never been a better time to be a reporter. The fallacies of the In spite of being the world’s main Trump administration have in a sense international institution, tasked been an incentive for reporters to with a crucial mission, and operating dig deeper, and spend more time on on what is in absolute terms a large investigations. The journalist plays budget and a lot of capacity, the UN a pivotal role in bringing the truth is nonetheless limited in what it can to light, by revealing hidden facts, do. In particular, the need to placate interpreting them in context, shaping member states limits the capacity narratives, and informing the public for the Secretary General to lead to guide collective action. On one large internal policy changes that the level, this has caused the press to organization needs. Here, journalists emerge as stronger than ever in a time may have a role to play. For instance, when democracies and human rights the Syrian conflict has dragged on are under threat – but it has equally with massive casualty to civilians as incentivized journalists to report well as atrocities and war crimes from about the UN and other international both sides (though one side more than organizations. the other). The role of journalists in The UN has its own challenges unearthing data on chemical attacks, these day. In the midst of turbulent human rights violations and casualty times, the new Secretary General, rates has been urgent and impressive. Antonio Guterres has proposed a new strategy to reform the UN, largely I began reporting on the United based on making it leaner and making Nations – largely their peacekeeping important cuts in budgets. Guterres missions – in the early 1990s. Writing is possibly the most intellectual and about the international organization humanitarian Secretary General in from the outside was a frustrating,
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sometimes thankless task. In those has grown and advanced and is now days, technology which we take led by a former New York Times for granted these days – instant Foreign Editor, Alison Smale, who is messaging, Skype, WhatsApp, even an excellent journalist and reporter, Internet – did not exist. Our means and leading a team of hundreds. In of communication was usually an terms of logistics, communications expensive satellite phone. have made the UN more accessible. Therefore, those of us working This is purely a matter of technology in the deep field – in Bosnia, in – the UN web pages and archives, as Rwanda, in Somalia – usually existed well as photo libraries, are available in a bubble where the real story and to anyone. Agencies like UNHCR or the real news did not exist unless UNDP have their reports and their we excavated it ourselves. So, the data on line, making it impossible UN communications team (often for a reporter to say they could not consisting of a single spokesperson) access information. In the past, who would descend on an emergency we had to rely on getting someone or crisis zone was imperative to our on the phone to check facts or get field work and our research. statistics. That could sometimes take The spokesmen (I can’t ever recall days, or weeks. a spokeswoman in those days) varied But the organisation is still not from the excellent (Peter Kessler, completely transparent to reporters. now a Senior UN official at UNHCR Several times when I have done ‘deep comes to mind) to the truly dreadful dives’ into investigating various UN bureaucrats, sometimes sent on a agencies or divisions – the Syrian mission without a real grasp of what peace talks, or the role of the new was happening on the ground, or Secretary General, Antonio Guterres just a clear loathing of reporters and – I still encountered a cloak of silence. the industry. There were occasions I also found, however, that there were when they concealed the truth, or plenty of whistleblowers, ready to deliberately led us off track, which step forward and point out the gaps, to a reporter is akin to lying. This the discrepancies and the dead ends was not so much an internal culture in the UN system. Some of them came of secrecy than an attempt to keep forward because they were aware reporters in the dark, without the true of wrongdoings, and their moral and full facts. In this, the UN was not imperative made them want to speak behaving exceptionally. the truth. Times have changed in terms of bringing the news to the public. Our times call for truth telling. The UN’s Department of Public This changing atmosphere opens Information under the wing of a great opportunity for journalists Secretary General Antonio Guterres to work more closely with the UN,
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 23 Our times call for truth telling. This changing atmosphere opens a great opportunity for journalists to work more closely with the UN, and play a role in supporting the development of positive, transparent and ethical global governance institutions.
24 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 1.2. THE JOURNALIST AND THE UN
and play a role in supporting the and the urgency of it, particularly development of positive, transparent in a time when the public needs to and ethical global governance know the global risks facing us all. institutions. There is also more It has been a hard three decades crossover with reporters – such as working world-wide, bringing out the myself – who work as consultants for news. But it is a task that has left me the UN on various projects in which greatly fulfilled, and a task which I we have expertise, and can thus hope has in some way shaped policy, increase transparency. particularly towards civilians in times I’ve never given up on reporting of war or conflict.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 25 AMANDA SIDDHARTA Amanda Siddharta is a journalist. She is currently the Jakarta-based contributor for a range of media outlets, including South China Morning Post and Reporting ASEAN. She is also the 2017 Southeast Asian Press Alliance Reporting Fellow. Previously, she wrote for Tempo Magazine, an Indonesian publication that focuses on investigative journalism.
26 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 1.3. KEEPING POWERS IN CHECK
1.3. Keeping powers in check
Amanda Siddharta, journalist.
If anyone has the power to solve global crises, it would seem to be our officially elected leaders. But the leader of a nation only holds responsibility to their national constituencies. How can we then ensure that leaders go beyond the narrow terms of their mandate and address global challenges that will affect their constituents in the future? Journalists have a crucial role to play in underlining not only crime and corruption, but also abuse of power in the form of neglect. They can alert the public to breaches of trust, when leaders are not serving their long- term interest and effectively fail to deliver on their mandate, and thus increase the chances that leaders will live up to their moral obligation.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 27 9. THE INTERNET OF THINGS – COORDINATING DATA FOR BETTER ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND REPORTING
28 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 1.3. KEEPING POWERS IN CHECK
f anyone has the power to solve neglecting issues that will affect the global crises, it would seem to population only with a delay – issues I be our officially elected leaders. that will affect people too young to Their roles are crucial in light of vote, or issues that will affect mainly the global crises occurring all over people yet unborn. the world today: terrorism, poverty, This is where the journalist comes rising inequality, more than 65 in, to serve as a watchdog over those million people displaced – as well who might hold the key to solving as the looming environmental the world’s most vexing issues. It catastrophe of climate change, and is not a journalist’s job to appease the real possibility that one billion the government in power, but to people will be climate refugees by question whether every step taken the end of the century. Such crises is serving the public’s interests. It warrant immediate action, and for is a journalist’s job to inform the this, who but our leaders can we put public of any wrongdoing by the our hopes in? government, and ensure that the It is only natural that when we give right issues are given priority. a few select individuals the power to lead, we expect them to lead for There are times when leaders the better. But the leader of a nation decide on a course of action that only holds responsibility to their they think will address an ongoing national constituencies. For now, we problem – and in the process violate do not have elected global leaders some of their citizens’ most basic explicitly responsible for solving rights, or even commit crimes crises that are increasingly global in against them. But leaders can also scope. Thus, national leaders need fail in their duty to stand up to crises to go beyond their mandate in order by neglecting their global mission in to address global issues, not only favor of short-term interests or for on moral grounds, but also from a political gains. This occurred when pragmatic perspective – because the elected leader of the US, one of those issues affect their countries. the world’s most influential nations, How can we then ensure that declared his intention to withdraw national leaders step up to global from the Paris Agreement, putting challenges? How can we hold them collective efforts to deal with climate accountable to the long-term welfare change in jeopardy. We cannot of the world? expect every single elected leader to Going unchecked, an immense readily go beyond their mandate and power is prone to abuse. We typically forsake their immediate interest for think of abuse as corruption or a bigger cause. But journalists, with oppression. But it can also take the the help of public pressure, can push more insidious form of neglect: those in power to take action – not
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 29 Journalists play an important role in promoting better global governance simply by reporting a story to the public, and alerting them to breaches of trust, when leaders are not serving their long-term interest, and effectively fail to deliver on their mandate.
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only for the short term, but for the address the most crucial issues, while long-term. complying with the rule of law and Perhaps the world is still haunted respecting human rights, journalists by the image of a dead Syrian boy need to maintain a consistently washed up on the beach in 2015. The critical stance toward leaders and photo and subsequent news reports continue to monitor events unfolding incited an international outcry and in the world. By doing so, the media forced most European countries to can increase the chances that leaders change their stance on the refugee will live up to their moral obligation. issue. Through stories like this one, Without often realizing it, journalists the media can highlight the plight of play an important role in promoting people directly affected by the crisis better global governance simply by and harness the power of public reporting a story to the public, and emotion towards collective action, alerting them to breaches of trust, demands or resistance, ultimately when leaders are not serving their leading to changes in policy. long-term interest, and effectively fail The media can also track the to deliver on their mandate. progress of international agreements In turn our leaders owe it to the to solve ongoing crises. Reporting public to let journalists do their should not stop after an agreement jobs in informing the people. Any has been made, but ensure that crime against media workers by any execution follows and continues governing individual or institution over time. Extensive coverage on the – and, worse, impunity for those countries that pledged to the Paris crimes – should cast a serious doubt agreement, for example, is needed to over the intentions of those holding ensure that their leaders will remain power. true to their words, and effectively After all, as the saying goes, take measures to stop further journalists are there to comfort the temperature increase. afflicted and afflict the comforted Given the importance of the media – not only within the boundaries of in spurring the leaders’ decisions to one country, but on a global scale.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 31 KRISTINE ANGELI SABILLO Kristine Angeli Sabillo is a multimedia reporter of ABS-CBN, the leading television network in the Philippines. She was formerly Chief of Reporters of INQUIRER.net, a top news website in the country. While with Inquirer, she covered the aftermath of supertyphoon Haiyan, as well as the 2015 climate negotiations in Paris, as part of CFI’s Media 21 Asia program. She regularly reports about climate change, politics and consumer issues.
32 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 1.4. RESHAPING CLIMATE REPORTING: FOUR CHALLENGES AND ONE SIGN OF HOPE
1.4. Reshaping climate reporting: four challenges and one sign of hope
Kristine Angeli Sabillo, journalist.
Media interest towards climate change swelled in the run-up to COP21, but after the event, coverage was neither sustained nor effective in mobilizing people. Why does climate reporting fall short of achieving the effects required by the seriousness of the issue? Four key reasons might explain this: the structure of media organizations favors regular beats and news that sell over climate related issues, there is a lack of journalists trained on the issue, funding for climate reporting is inadequate, and multi-sensory stories accessible to non-expert audiences are difficult to produce. However, global collaboration around climate reporting has already given birth to remarkable projects, and offers great hope for the future.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 33 1.4. RESHAPING CLIMATE REPORTING: FOUR CHALLENGES AND ONE SIGN OF HOPE
he force unleashed by it was business as usual for many of super typhoon Haiyan in these reporters. Despite the interest T the Philippines has been drummed up by the high-profile described as comparable to that of an event, media coverage was neither atomic bomb1. The statement should sustained nor effective in mobilizing not be discarded as pure rhetorical people, at least according to a paper excess. Although typhoons leave published last year by the Nature no lasting radiation behind, they Climate Change journal. do release energy that is sometimes equivalent to multiple nuclear Climate reporting falls very short explosions2. of achieving the effects required by The devastation wrought by the seriousness of the issue. Four key typhoon Haiyan confirmed this. It reasons explain why this is the case. exploded on the city of Tacloban, where storm surges claimed the lives First, inadequate coverage of of thousands of people. Journalists climate change may be traced to the like myself sent to survey the structure of media organizations. aftermath of the typhoon considered Many of them follow old beat it a war zone. Villages were reduced systems, whereby each journalist to rubble. Bodies littered the streets. specializes on just one core topic or The living had nowhere to go. location. Unlike politics or business, It was there that I realized the climate change is not a regular beat. threat of climate change was real. There are no daily events that help Climate change is not just a slow rise generate news about it. Reporters of the average temperature, resulting get caught up in the daily grind of in more balmy nights and sweatier breaking news, and have little time days: it brings extreme material to work on extensive stories about destruction and human suffering in climate change. Meanwhile, in the its wake. context of commercial competition between media outlets, editors Two years later, I found myself are made to focus on news that in Paris, covering the climate sell – consumer stories, political negotiations. controversy, business or sports. With me were 3,000 other journalists, more than three times Second, in cases when media the number present in Lima for the organizations are interested in Conference of the Parties (COP) the regularly covering climate change, it year before. takes a while to find the right person. Media interest in climate change Climate reporting is not offered swelled in the run-up to COP21 in as an elective in most journalism France. But once the show was over, schools. Journalists often learn on
34 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 1.4. RESHAPING CLIMATE REPORTING: FOUR CHALLENGES AND ONE SIGN OF HOPE
their own through self-directed, each other with stories, journalists on online courses like that of Poynter’s the ground offered each other food, News University or by applying for water and satellite phones. Unlike fellowships abroad. other beats where competition is cut- throat, climate change has become a Third, with media organizations common enemy for many journalists. unable to fund climate-related More practitioners seek cross- investigations or even spare border reporting projects or learning journalists to focus on in-depth opportunities. Networking has stories, reporters who want to pursue become as important as skills training the topic of climate change need to – as demonstrated by the success of seek institutions and networks who the Global Investigative Journalism are willing to foot the bill. Some Conference and similar events, initiatives do exist, but their numbers gathering thousands of journalists in are extremely limited. one venue. Some remarkable projects have Fourth, it is difficult to produce emerged from those collaborations. reports on climate change that fully The Guardian teamed up with non- engage the audience. Stories that will government organization Global convince people to care and act are Witness to document the deaths of the ones that put a human face on environmental activists who went the issue, or capture it in one iconic against destructive industries. In and memorable image. This is even the months leading to COP21, the more important and difficult for Earth Journalism Network developed stories about climate science that “A More Vulnerable World,” a need to visually capture the passage compilation of 40 remarkable in- of time and make abstract models depth stories about the world’s most concrete. New media does allow climate-vulnerable communities. journalists to produce compelling, This project resulted in the formation multi-sensory stories. However, such of more local organizations for engaging cross-platform reports are environment journalists and still too rare. Costs are high, teams are increasing interest around the world large – and both funding and expert in stories about climate change. journalists are in short supply. Technology supports this active collaboration. Besides facilitating A sign of hope, however, is that discussion, new media allows global collaboration on climate journalists to produce compelling, change stories has increased. multi-sensory stories across different In the aftermath of Haiyan, climate platforms. The New York Times’ change brought Filipino journalists interactive story “Greenland is together. Instead of out-scooping Melting Away,” published a month
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 35 It is crucial that collaborations can occur on a larger scale, as happened when hundreds of journalists worked together on the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers.
36 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 1.4. RESHAPING CLIMATE REPORTING: FOUR CHALLENGES AND ONE SIGN OF HOPE
before the Paris talks, made use of seas, bleached corals, and extreme drone footage, satellite imagery and weather. Perhaps it is time for us to maps to illustrate how scientists get move the story forward and shift data to test climate models. Last year, our collaborative efforts towards The Economist released “Ocean: holding government and companies The mystery corals,” a 360 degree accountable. virtual reality experience that shows For this, new questions need how the coral reefs in Palau are able to be answered. What is the best to survive warm and acidic water funding source for climate change caused by climate change. But those related projects? Are funds allotted are only two projects out of a handful for projects used properly? Are each year, when many more would be international efforts truly benefiting needed. climate-vulnerable countries? It is crucial that such collaborations Questions will have to be more can occur on a larger scale, as pointed. Targets will have to be happened when hundreds of bigger. Collaborations will have to journalists worked together on the be grander in scale. Stakes will be Panama Papers and the Paradise higher as journalists play a crucial Papers. Not only does the work role in guiding the world towards a require massive manpower, it is also sustainable future. The media needs essential that multiple voices and to choose now if it will give climate perspectives be heard. change problems and solutions front A shift in focus should accompany page treatment – or whether we this change in magnitude. Journalists would rather wait for scenes of chaos have explored how climate change and disaster to take over headlines resulted in melting permafrost, rising across the globe.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 37 PART 2 – THE JOURNALIST AS PIONEER OF A NEW GLOBAL NARRATIVE
Part 2 The journalist as pioneer of a new global narrative
38 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 39 CRISTINA MANZANO Cristina Manzano is the director of esglobal, an online publication on global affairs in Spanish (former Foreign Policy Magazine Spanish edition). She is now a columnist for El Periódico, and writes for the Spanish-language Huffington Post. She is also editor of Pensamiento Iberoamericano, a magazine about political economy, trends and cooperation in Latin America, after a career in media, think tanks and corporate communications. She sits on the Advisory committee of the Real Instituto Elcano and is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
40 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.1. CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE: BUILDING GLOBAL NARRATIVES IN A FRAGMENTED MEDIA LANDSCAPE
2.1. Champions for change: building global narratives in a fragmented media landscape
Cristina Manzano, director, esglobal.
Media power today suffers from the simultaneous shockwaves of changing business models, fake news, and fragmentation through social networks. In this context, how can the media construct and disseminate global narratives? In the past century, governments and political leaders played a major role in building global consensus. Today, however, a broader range of actors are trying to make their voices heard. In this new landscape, an incipient global conscience is emerging around issues led by “champions” of all sorts, through a bottom-up approach that harnesses the power of technology. A new role for the media may be to identify those champions, and help their voices stand out from the surrounding noise.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 41 2.1. CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE: BUILDING GLOBAL NARRATIVES IN A FRAGMENTED MEDIA LANDSCAPE
t was already a best-seller, but time the main agenda-setters. What when Facebook founder Mark was featured on their front pages I Zuckerberg mentioned Moises and opening pieces signaled what Naím’s The End of Power as one of his the audience had to pay attention favorite readings, the book became a to. Now, a growing number of worldwide hit. people get informed through the What Naim describes in it is how scattered landscape of social media, power in all spheres – from politics to without a given order or hierarchy. business and from ideas to religion – This environment often acts as an is more and more fragmented; how it echo chamber where opinions and is easier than ever to reach, but also preferences only get amplified, rarely easier than ever to lose; and how all confronted. that is happening at a faster pace. That is happening to media, too. In a recent Pew Research survey Once an extremely powerful industry of 38 countries worldwide3, a median – the press, a pillar of democracy – it of 42% say they get news on the is now suffering several simultaneous Internet at least once a day. Overall, a shockwaves. On the one hand, the global median of 35% get news daily change of business model, pushed through social media. A similar trend by the economic crisis in general, is observed by Latinobarómetro4, the advertising crisis in particular, the main regional survey in Latin and the birth of the Internet, with its America: while traditional formal immense universe of free content. On (news outlets) and informal (friends) the other hand, the growing threat sources of information see their of fake news, whereby progress in influence decrease, social networks digital technology increases both our see theirs increase. capacity to manipulate images, sound This new environment makes the and videos, and our capacity to share construction and dissemination of ‘alternative facts’ on a large scale. global narratives only more difficult. While manipulation and distortion In fact, it has never been an easy task. are nothing new, the emergence of an Audiences around the world army of trolls and bots able to spread declare that they follow national and blunt lies to a worldwide audience local news closely (as per the Pew and the quite certain suspicion that Research survey abovementioned), some governments may be behind not so much international or global them have undermined the trust of news. That fact is aggravated by the public in the media. the lack of global, or even regional A third major element contributes outlets. to the fragmentation of media power: This, in part, can also be explained social networks. Newspapers, TV by a language factor. CNN was and radio stations were for a long successful because they could reach
42 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.1. CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE: BUILDING GLOBAL NARRATIVES IN A FRAGMENTED MEDIA LANDSCAPE
an extensive – and quite elitist – with opposition and suspicion. This audience in English, inextricably dispersion increases the difficulty linked to a Western view of the of articulating global narratives that world. Later, Al Jazeera or RT, among resonate with the public, at the very others, came to offer their own same time that the media must adapt perspectives and agendas, in their to a new technological, economic and own languages, to other kinds of cultural environment. audiences. However, these networks And yet, if media fragmentation seem to increase polarization and poses challenges to global narratives, fragmentation rather than to channel it also offers new opportunities. global collaboration. Accusations A bottom-up, more democratic against RT, described as a weapon approach that takes advantage of of misinformation by the Kremlin, the possibilities of technology is or blunt attacks on Al Jazeera in the emerging. The result is an incipient battle among regional powers in the global conscience around certain Middle East are just two examples. issues – not so much around structures – led by “champions” of all Whenever global consensus has sorts. been built in the past century, the voices of governments and political Probably the most impressive leaders have played a major role. It example is the Women’s March. was the case with the creation of the Gathered around the opposition to United Nations and, at a regional President Trump. The movement scale, with the European Union, after took more than 6 million people to the cathartic experience of WWII. the streets in 34 countries around It was the case again with different the world to defend women’s attempts to foster cooperation among rights, equality and empowerment African countries and Latin American the day after his inauguration. states, and later on with the gathering More important, it has since then of 10 Asian countries around ASEAN. renewed the debate on gender Today, however, any attempt to equality worldwide. It is difficult to build a global narrative linked to imagine the #MeToo movement, the construction (or reconstruction) and its powerful impact, without the of global governance structures atmosphere created by the Marches must face the co-existence of many – an atmosphere that was captured, different actors – political leaders, circulated and amplified by the media activists and NGOs, corporations, around the world. experts – all of them trying to make The media themselves can be the their voices heard. Moreover, the leading actor in bringing a crucial mere reference to the need for such issue to the attention of the global global mechanisms is often met community, as the Panama and
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 43 One of the most pressing tasks for the media may be to identify champions, and help them consolidate their work amidst all the noise.
44 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.1. CHAMPIONS FOR CHANGE: BUILDING GLOBAL NARRATIVES IN A FRAGMENTED MEDIA LANDSCAPE
Paradise Papers show. Here, a global of European societies towards the network of journalists and media European project, thousands of organizations joined forces in a youngsters showed their support to unique manner to tackle a pressing a common future based on a given global challenge: money laundering set of values, coordinated by the and corruption. movement Pulse of Europe. New platforms, such as Change. In this new landscape where org or Avaaz, are instrumental in individuals, movements or civil harnessing collective action around society organizations become some of today’s most pressing issue. “champions” driving collective Avaaz, for example, claims to have action, one of the most pressing tasks mobilized more than 1,5 million for the media may be to identify people around the world to push those champions, and help them for the Paris Agreement on Climate consolidate their work amidst all the Change, at a point when expectations noise. But after all, serving as a filter, a of achieving any meaningful result watchdog and a disseminator of social at the summit were very low. In change has been the traditional role of Europe, despite the traditional apathy the media for a long time, hasn’t it?
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 45 AMY WILENTZ Amy Wilentz is an American journalist, writer, and professor at the University of California, Irvine, where she teaches in the Literary Journalism program. She was Jerusalem correspondent for The New Yorker, and is the author of a number of books, including Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter From Haiti (2013), which won a National Book Critics Circle Award. She is a contributing editor at The Nation, and her work has also appeared in a broad range of publications, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Harper’s, Vogue, San Francisco Chronicle, The Village Voice, The London Review of Books, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Democracy, and Politico. She has received the Whiting Writers Award, the PEN Martha Albrand Non-Fiction Award, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Rosenthal Award.
46 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.2. FROM FRAGMENTS TO PATTERN: WEAVING NEW GLOBAL NARRATIVES
2.2. From fragments to pattern: weaving new global narratives
Amy Wilentz, writer and professor, Literary Journalism program, University of California.
With digital development and greater ease of transport, human stories are increasingly intertwined today. Yet the connection between the broader narrative and local circumstances is often lost, whether for climate change, the global refugee crisis, or the ongoing nuclear weapons disaster. Three things must change for global reporting to weave stories unfolding across the planet in a more comprehensive and powerful way. We need platforms and institutions where work can be shared and fast translations made. We need new models of collaboration, including cross-border agencies where reporting is gathered, circulated and refashioned into global reports. And finally, we need financial support for those platforms and for cross- border investigative projects.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 47 2.2. FROM FRAGMENTS TO PATTERN: WEAVING NEW GLOBAL NARRATIVES
here have always been shared so many nations in a chain of misery human stories that unite the and dilemma. Thus: the ongoing T globe. Among the earliest nuclear weapons disaster, affecting all are the handed-down narratives of humankind. the world’s religions, some of which have helped diasporas around the One of the gravest problems in world to share an important element dealing with these issues on a global of their culture globally, in spite of scale – where they need to be dealt very different day-to-day experiences. with – is that the stories often remain Other global stories brought together unconnected. So that a drought in dispersed groups in a connected set Africa that causes a massive exodus of events: usually these had to do around the Mediterranean, say, is with war or trade, as in the hideous not clearly seen to be a result of global story of African slavery that climate change; or a series of terrible connected so many parts of the world. floods in South Asia are not seen to But most often, there were simply be a result of climate change and similar human stories happening also the cause of increased human separately, in many places: stories of trafficking from the region – in both cruel dictatorships in Indonesia and cases, because different journalists Paraguay, say, or broken families in operating in different spaces are in France and Nepal, or poverty in so charge of each thread, but no one is many places around the world. explicitly responsible for weaving them together. With greater ease of transport, The climate change narrative is infinitely faster dispersal of images a particularly hard one to globalize and words, and a stunning pace of because it happens on so many development in so many populous levels, in so many ways, all the corners, shared human stories today time. The structure of the world’s are increasingly intertwined. Yet most prominent media outlets is reporting on those new global stories not normally a cooperative one. proves to be one of the hardest tasks Every news outlet wants as much for journalists, and the subjects of market share as it can get, and all see those stories often fail to see the themselves as in competition with connection between the broader one another. In addition, it’s entirely narrative and their daily lives. possible that a Montreal newspaper, Thus: climate change, a planetary an American television station, and catastrophe we all must deal with, a Mexican radio journalist might be or fail to deal with at our peril. Thus: working on the same regional climate environmental disasters and the rapid change story at the same time, and disappearance of species. Thus: the publishing or airing at the same world’s refugee crisis that involves time, yet never connect with one
48 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.2. FROM FRAGMENTS TO PATTERN: WEAVING NEW GLOBAL NARRATIVES
another. Both language barriers and weave the global narrative because the competitive traditions are obstacles to story was dramatic and photogenic, global narrative sharing. and touched nerves in many nations. Climate change stories have been But there are some hopeful signs. more gradual and often less visible – When language is shared, stories can they’re hard to capture in a snapshot travel speedily around the globe and – and need to be taken up as global narratives can be connected. One such narratives more consciously and story was the 2013 Rana Plaza garment efficiently to have this impact and factory collapse in Bangladesh, in reach. which 1,134 people were killed and another 2,500 injured. This story was Three things must change for global quickly globalized because – as a reporting to become more than a pot- consequence of colonialism – English shot possibility. is a language shared between the We need platforms and institutions reporters who covered the collapse where work can be shared and and those writing about garment fast translations made, not just workers in the Anglophone world. from Spanish or English to French Pretty quickly, the world was made to or Arabic, but from hundreds of understand the relationship between prevailing languages throughout all the building’s pancaking to the continents. Including important local ground, the cynical, money-grubbing, narratives in the global conversation depredations of unscrupulous would add a sense of urgency for middlemen, and the blind-eyed influence wielders and policy makers. behavior of fast-fashion mega-chains, Agricultural workers in California’s and then, finally, the complicity of Central Valley walking miles to fetch the Western consumer in the deadly water might be interested to hear system. This global narrative changed about African villagers suffering under some business practices. the same burden for some of the same The Syrian war has also raised the reasons. global community’s awareness of We need better models of our most serious shared problems. journalistic collaboration. They The mutual destruction of so many cannot all be wikis. Direction and factions, the utter victimization and management – what are known as eventual displacement of large chunks “gatekeepers” – are necessary for such of the Syrian population, and their platforms to be successful: a crowd- subsequent arrival on foreign shores, sourced website will not be adequate, has shown us just how global the although it could function as a part narrative of a civil war can become; of the mix. We need to develop and the media has treated it as such. continent-wide news agencies where In both cases, it was possible to professional and citizen reporting is
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 49 Fragmentation sucks the true force and meaning out of global narratives, and allows the interests that fuel these crises to continue on unimpeded.
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gathered, circulated and refashioned underwriting, and lots of creative into global reports. Those would thinking needs to be called upon to connect us and pull together the establish such institutions. If we fail threads of the common narrative. to achieve this, we will only continue Finally, we need financial support with narratives of climate change, for those platforms and for cross- refugees, and the dangers of nuclear border investigative projects. Many armaments fragmented into their news organizations have cut back constituent parts. This fragmentation their foreign coverage in the turbulent sucks the true force and meaning out wake of the Internet onslaught, but of these global narratives, and allows this coverage needs to be restored. the interests that fuel these crises to Public financing, charitable corporate continue on unimpeded.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 51 PETER BERGLEZ Peter Berglez is Professor of Media and Communication Studies at Jönköping University, Sweden. His research primarily focuses on the relation between media and globalization and environmental/sustainable communication. He is a member of the advisory board of the media platform project The Global Academy, and is the author of Global Journalism: Theory and Practice, published in 2013.
52 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.3. TIME FOR THE RISE OF GLOBAL JOURNALISM
2.3. Time for the rise of global journalism
Peter Berglez, Professor, Media and Communication Studies, Jönköping University.
In an increasingly connected world, how can we address the democratic need to adequately inform the public on cross- border issues, such as climate change, financial meltdowns, or big data society? Traditional foreign correspondence overemphasizes domestic interests. Instead, what we need today is global journalism, an approach to reporting concerned with the interconnectedness of things, where local or domestic affairs are contextualized in relation to global sources.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 53 2.3. TIME FOR THE RISE OF GLOBAL JOURNALISM
he digital revolution yet, the processes of globalization generates enormous masses often seem abstract and invisible, T of information that circulate and therefore, active efforts to among ever more people worldwide. understand it appear as not so And yet, life in the global village urgent. This is treacherous. does not necessarily generate media Journalism is part of the problem. information about this village. This It promotes a “national container” is a serious democratic problem. perspective, to use the words of Today’s globalized world requires Ulrich Beck, whereby society is a new kind of journalism that continually reduced to the home investigates how the practices, nation-state. However, in today’s problems and life conditions of news ecology, something quite people in various parts of the world different is needed, otherwise media are interrelated. Only journalism will gradually lose contact with equipped with a global outlook, i.e. an increasingly complex society. a global journalism, can develop Journalism could be part of the adequate coverage of climate solution if the perspective shifted, so change, financial meltdowns, drug that global and local realities would and human trafficking, Internet be presented as intertwined, not surveillance, life science, big data distinguished. society, and other cross-border Global journalism should not issues. be confused with traditional This new form of reporting, which foreign correspondence. This is still in its initial stages, has three form of journalism specializes in main characteristics. Interconnected covering events abroad for domestic processes and events that occur audiences, often overemphasizing simultaneously in separate places domestic interests – how will the across the world are explicitly results of foreign elections affect brought together. Global power plays our nation, or were “our” citizens – whether conflicts, trade patterns involved in a disaster that occurred or negotiations – are analysed as on foreign soil? In contrast global a complex mixture of domestic, journalism is occupied with the foreign and global drives. Groups interconnectedness of things: the and political identities are presented practice is not centered around a in a manner that shows continuities distant event but instead a relation across borders. between “here” and “there”, which Global journalism is a democratic also becomes the point of departure must because life at the local for journalistic explanations. level is increasingly influenced by International news services, decisions, actions and processes such as Reuters and AP, but also taking place somewhere else. And CNNint and BBC World, with
54 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.3. TIME FOR THE RISE OF GLOBAL JOURNALISM
their cross-border scope, might crisis increasingly force media to be viewed as the nineteenth and become cross-border. This might twentieth centuries (pre-)version well be the case, but the process of global journalism, but they still goes too slowly. Like ostriches, too fall short of covering relations many media organizations bury between cross-border events and their heads in the hyperlocal sand, peoples, and thus actively bringing repressing the external world for the world’s continents closer to the sake of “business as usual”. So each other. Perhaps, tomorrow’s far, there are no obvious signs that global journalism will primarily be transnational regions, such as the developed in the context of domestic EU, are generating more and better reporting. This is because global cross-border journalism than other journalism might also be viewed as parts of the world. a necessary updating of domestic Actors on the media market media information in which local leading the development of global or domestic affairs are increasingly outlooks are likely to become contextualized in relation to winners in the longer term. In the global sources. Implanting this competitive race, those nation- global outlook in domestic media states with populations that quickly could also make it commercially adopt a global outlook on society sustainable, as most studies of will have an advantage, and become media consumption conclude that highly equipped for cross-border people prefer information about collaboration. A shift probably geographically and culturally requires initiatives from both the proximate events. market and the State/public service system but also from independent Is a paradigm shift in the history projects. In the latter case, a of media production realistic? Media promising example is the media experts of the tech-romantic kind platform The Global Academy (in suggest that more and freer digital development), which covers and networks are the answer to the explains global issues by bringing problem, but they tend to forget that in academic scholars from all parts the global outlook also requires a of the world in the journalistic new form of storytelling and thus a production. new journalistic mindset. Thus, it is Today’s embryonic examples of not the case that specific platforms global journalism cover global crises (for example, social media rather such as climate change, or the dark than TV) automatically generate side of the global economy, such as global outlooks. Others argue that ICIJs Panama Papers story. But future global challenges such as the energy global journalism could and should issue and oncoming water supply include many more stories in which
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 55 Like ostriches, too many media organizations bury their heads in the hyperlocal sand, repressing the external world for the sake of “business as usual”.
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unknown cross-border relations chains of causality that prevail in are brought to public daylight in a the age of globalization. In a world systematic manner. In turn, this will characterized by emergent need create appetite among the readership for problem solving across national for news coverage that goes beyond boundaries, is not this the only way the artificial boundaries of nations, for media to remain democratically and properly renders the complex relevant?
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 57 KATHARINA KLOSS Katharina Kloss is editor in chief of Cafébabel, award winning media by and for young people in Europe. After European journalism studies and various media experiences in Germany, France and the UK, she has worked as a journalist and editor in Paris since 2007. Fluent in 4 languages, she is especially interested in cross border approaches. Her stories are also featured on arte, L’Express, New Eastern Europe or ParisBerlin. In 2017 she has edited XYZ, a crowdfunded book featuring a best-of Cafébabel features from the last 15 years.
58 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.4. BEYOND BABEL: PARTICIPATORY PLATFORMS AND CROSS-BORDER NARRATIVES
2.4. Beyond Babel: participatory platforms and cross-border narratives
Katharina Kloss, editor in chief, Cafébabel.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, new cross-border digital media platforms have emerged – such as Cafébabel, a magazine sharing stories by and for young Europeans. Could those new forms of participatory media powered by digital technology unify people around new global narratives? Four characteristics of participatory digital media are of particular relevance today: they support new forms of cross-border investigations, they allow stories to circulate across linguistic and cultural silos, they support stories natively framed from a global perspective, and they gather audiences that reach beyond national borders. Thus, new media platforms, in Europe and beyond, might offer a path towards a deeper sense of shared belonging beyond the borders of languages, cultures, and nation states.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 59 2.4. BEYOND BABEL: PARTICIPATORY PLATFORMS AND CROSS-BORDER NARRATIVES
t a time when the digital in 2000, and published a Korean, media revolution has a Japanese and an international A brought forth an age of English platform. Most of the global conversation and financially content was written by freelance pressed newsrooms must diminish contributors – ordinary citizens their correspondent networks rather than professional journalists. abroad, transnational approaches In recent years, many more outlets to journalism could be the solution with similar models have emerged to provide the citizens of the world around the world. Citizen journalism with the information they need, and platforms such as Global Voices or unify people across borders around even Huffington Post or Medium, new global narratives. This is of as well as participatory translation particular relevance in light of the projects such as Amara – an challenges we face today: climate inclusive subtitling platform for change, tax evasion, or the ongoing worldwide video contents – play a refugee crisis, all reach across role in creating more inclusive global national borders and require new narratives and bridging cultures to approaches. uncover stories underrepresented in Cafébabel, which started in 2001, is mainstream media. part of this new approach, as the first multilingual participatory magazine Four developments made possible made by and for young Europeans. by those new forms of participatory The platform is anchored in the digital media are of particular continent’s core values of tolerance, importance today. peace and respect for diversity – even as it supports a robust The first is a capacity to develop discussion of shortcomings in the world-wide investigative projects current political project and its using the power of the crowd. inability to meet the challenges of Bellingcat for example, launched our global societies. In that respect, in 2014 by British blogger Eliot it can be seen as an expression of the Higgins, combines open source European project, born of a desire technologies and social media to to avoid the future possibility of investigate global stories such as the conflict between the nations that conflict in Syria or Russia’s military had just experienced the atrocities of intervention in Ukraine. The Italian the Second World War. project Generation E partnered Cafébabel is part of a broader up with several media outlets trend towards the development such as German CORRECT!V and of new forms of media. The first journalism++ to crowdsource data participatory digital media platform, on Europe’s migration wave. “The OhMyNews, was created in Seoul Migrants Files”, which it developed,
60 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.4. BEYOND BABEL: PARTICIPATORY PLATFORMS AND CROSS-BORDER NARRATIVES
have been the biggest investigation required that breaks the typical into the deaths of migrants in the national-foreign correspondent Mediterranean area so far. bubble. Contributors must focus not only on their national readerships, The second is a capacity to get but brainstorm topics and angles that information and stories out of might engage readers from different language silos. Since 2006 Beijing- cultural backgrounds. based Yeeyan operates a platform crowdsourcing the translation of Finally, participatory media is Western news into Mandarin – and in a unique position to create a has gathered a community that unified audience across borders. counts over 600,000 members In particular, participatory outlets today. Meedan – a word meaning developed online are in a good ‘town square’ in Arabic –created an position to cross borders through online forum to reveal and discuss social media channels, newsletters contrasting perspectives on events and content partnerships. Strategies between the Arabic and the Western for further audience development world, through human and machine include harnessing the Facebook translation. Cafébabel took on a algorithm for automated content similar challenge for the European distribution according to the continent, and publishes stories in geographical location of the reader. six languages. In the biblical story, Teaming up together via content the tower of Babel was a construction syndication presents another strategy of human pride, and resulted in for future cross-border journalism. punishment for humanity, which New syndication platforms for was dispersed around the globe, and independent European media, separated into different languages. or the more recent Newsmavens The magazine aims to reverse the (‘womensplaining’ European news curse of language barriers, and in English), financed by the Google bring people back together around a digital news initiative, point the way. multilingual public conversation in a virtual café. With continuous globalization, digital disruption and decreasing The third is the capacity to develop revenues in the media sector, sharing a natively global understanding of resources and relying on a strong current affairs. News do not stop community becomes more crucial. at the border, yet often, journalists “If it had to be redone, I would start remain attached to their local with culture.” This famous sentence context. So that citizen journalism attributed to Jean Monnet, one of the can create more integrated narratives, founding fathers of the EU – although a particular editorial approach is he might have never pronounced
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 61 Transnational approaches to journalism could be the solution to provide the citizens of the world with the information they need, and unify people across borders around new global narratives.
62 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.4. BEYOND BABEL: PARTICIPATORY PLATFORMS AND CROSS-BORDER NARRATIVES
it – contains a very simple truth: featured a multimedia piece on a it is mostly culture that ties the European initiative empowering girls people in Europe together, and the in Nepal through skateboarding. This development of a unified culture is at kind of stories could be springboards the core of peace-making. towards more global conversation Cafébabel’s primary purpose is between continents – and why not to accompany Europe’s integration one day the creation of a local hub on process. When Europe is ready to another continent. speak with a common voice in the People have been willing to die for world, we’d be probably ready to national narratives – and continue go more global. With decreasing to this day. If we want to build a joint demographics on the ‘old continent’, sense of belonging to our increasingly participatory journalism by and for integrated planet, we must build the young people will have to watch out conditions for a sense of common beyond European borders to reach destiny. For this, participatory digital new audiences. Recently, cafébabel media has a crucial role to play.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 63 KATIE G. NELSON Katie G. Nelson is an independent journalist and photographer covering human rights, global health and accountability issues in East Africa. Her writing and photographs have been published by Al Jazeera, Associated Press, National Geographic and Public Radio International. She also contributed to a 50-state investigation into accountability, transparency and corruption for the Center for Public Integrity and Center for Global Integrity. Prior to this, Nelson has worked in the humanitarian aid sector in Africa. Her work as a journalist is rooted in the desire to connect seemingly disparate narratives into a collective sense of humanity.
64 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.5. THE POWER OF A SINGLE FRAME: PHOTOJOURNALISM AND GLOBAL CONSCIOUSNESS
2.5. The power of a single frame: photojournalism and global consciousness
Katie G. Nelson, journalist and photographer.
Visual storytelling often moves readers more than words ever could: powerful images not only make the news, but they can also prompt collective action to face a given challenge. With the rise of digital connectivity, there has never been a better time to use the power of photography. And yet, when the challenges of today are more intertwined than ever, and billions of photos – real and fake – are shared online everyday, what does the future of photojournalism look like? Emerging initiatives that not only harness the power of photography but also integrate data and research might serve as a rallying call to catalyze viewers into action on behalf of the greater good.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 65 2.5. THE POWER OF A SINGLE FRAME: PHOTOJOURNALISM AND GLOBAL CONSCIOUSNESS
s a journalist and where James Nachtwey6 documented photographer, I have spent the inhumanity of the 1992 famine A much of my career capturing that killed 260,000 people7, to Eddie stories of inequality, corruption and Adams’8 1968 image of a South man-made tragedy across East Africa Vietnamese National Police Chief and the United States. From crouching holding a pistol to the head of a Việt under cars to photograph dust storms Cộng captain, photography has shaped in drought-stricken northern Kenya, history and shifted perspectives to staying in secret safehouses to on events that would otherwise be document the plight of gay and forgotten. transgender Ugandans, I have used These images not only made the photography as a catalyst to inspire news, but gathered international action on a global scale. attention around important stories, Photographs have been long been a and prompted collective action to central part of news reporting. From face a given challenge. Stirton’s the long-exposure glass plate cameras documentation of gorillas led to a to the development of the compact legally binding treaty to protect the 35mm camera, journalists have sought endangered animal in nine African to document reality and bring life countries including the Congo. to otherwise static stories across the Nachtwey’s image of the woman being planet and for the planet. carried in a wheelbarrow is credited These days, the importance of with raising 250 million dollars for photography often runs parallel to The International Committee of the story itself. From the largest daily the Red Cross and helping save 1.5 to the smallest monthly, nearly every million lives. Adams work bolstered newspaper publishes their lead story antiwar efforts that helped end U.S. with an accompanying photo. And involvement in Vietnam. even journalists rooted in the hard- nosed techniques of an investigative With the rise of digital connectivity news reporter realise that visual and smartphones, there is no better storytelling often moves readers more time to use the power of photography than words ever could. to shine a light on the thousands From the jungles of the Democratic of quiet tragedies waiting to be Republic of the Congo, where Brent uncovered around the world. Stirton photographed a group of grief- How does one make a photograph stricken men carry a makeshift gurney that can shift policy and move minds? holding Senkwekwe, a 500-pound From composition, to lighting, timing silverback mountain gorilla who was and even mathematical theories, there slain during the region’s ongoing are many factors that, when combined, and brutal conflict5, to the cracked, can make a good photo. Photographs wind-swept landscape of Somalia, must also be timely, truthful and
66 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.5. THE POWER OF A SINGLE FRAME: PHOTOJOURNALISM AND GLOBAL CONSCIOUSNESS
newsworthy; otherwise they’re not and what role photojournalism can considered photojournalism. But at play in addressing some of today’s its essence, photojournalism is a tool greatest challenges – environmental for simplifying the complexities of a degradation, climate change, story into a single frame and providing ecosystem collapse and their impact a clear narrative that encapsulates on humankind. the emotional, physical and mental Today, more than half the world’s dynamics of a story while maintaining population has access to the Internet12 the accuracy of the situation. and billions of photos – real and Beyond the technical beauty of an fake – are shared online everyday. image is also a deeply emotional and Audiences are more immune to the subjective experience. Such images power of images, and less likely to often portray a sense of vulnerability trust images they know might have and softness within harsh been manipulated. circumstances, or juxtapose feelings The great photographs of the of power against powerlessness. They past were made in a time when connect humans through universal newspapers provided the world’s emotional experiences like love, loss, news feed, when readers waited pain and most importantly, empathy with bated breath for the morning for the subject. and afternoon editions to hit the But what separates good stands. They were made when crises photography from great is its ability were relatively contained in time to capture a brief moment in time and space, and when newspaper that can be extrapolated into a budgets were bursting. Today’s global larger experience of collective challenges are increasingly complex, humanity – essentially, of capturing intertwined and multilayered; the individuality of mass tragedy. A capturing those intricacies, providing daughter’s grief as she watches a burial actions to address them and team collect her father’s body at the maintaining the world’s attention peak of Liberia’s Ebola outbreak9, the at the same time is an increasingly fragility of a single emaciated Polar difficult task. Bear foraging for food in the midst of As photojournalists, we know how global warming,10 a frightened Afghani to reveal emotions in the face of a girl posed in front of a bullet-riddled person confronted with a challenge wall11, these images illustrate the – but the story of humanity at risk individual impact of complex and is not a story of individual failing: often intangible tragedies. it is collective failure to cooperate. What does a picture look like that Despite the importance of highlights not individual suffering, photojournalism, it is unclear what but a call to action for institutions to the future of the industry will be, collaborate?
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 67 As photojournalists, we know how to reveal emotions in the face of a person confronted with a challenge – but the story of humanity at risk is not a story of individual failing: it is collective failure to cooperate.
68 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.5. THE POWER OF A SINGLE FRAME: PHOTOJOURNALISM AND GLOBAL CONSCIOUSNESS
While photographers will continue Still, there are no simple answers to grapple with that question, to solve the immense global glimpses of new initiatives aimed at challenges ahead of us. Climate addressing a greater call to action are change, pandemics and war are emerging, albeit slowly. PhotoVoice, a interconnected and multi-layered, participatory photography program, and so are the solutions to solve them. supports marginalized communities While there is no one-size-fits-all to respond to global crises through model for impactful photojournalism, photography. Wildlife researchers nor do most photojournalists believe in East Africa are combining GPS- their photo will single-handedly tracking cameras and user-generated save humanity. But it is clear that photography to identify the role photography can be used as a rallying of climate change and ecosystem call to catalyze viewers into caring collapse on animal migration and acting on behalf of the greater trends. Technology specialists are good. creating apps that help refugees As photojournalists, it is our role report infrastructure and governance to seek out those who have been failures inside sprawling camps by silenced, to document tragedy and using a location pin and photographic to share our truth to the world. But documentation. These initiatives are our viewers also have a job in front not only able to harness the power of of them: to engage with the world photography but also integrate data through our photography and to and research to show the scale and act on the stories we’ve so tirelessly impact of environmental destruction. fought to share.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 69 NETTA AHITUV Netta Ahituv is a senior magazine correspondent and editor at Haaretz Newspaper, based in Israel. In 2014 she won the Pratt Prize for journalism in the category of “Extensive and Important Body of Work”. She also has a weekly radio program about urbanism at Galatz Radio Station. She has a master degree in Environmental Philosophy and a bachelor degree in Biology and Humanities, both from Tel Aviv University. She founded a woman soccer league in Israel, in which 100 women play soccer weekly as a hobby and as an empowering tool.
70 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.6. HOW TO OVERCOME PUBLIC INDIFFERENCE?
2.6. How to overcome public indifference?
Netta Ahituv, journalist, Haaretz Newspaper.
The media should continually remind the public of what is important. But this comes with a price: the more audiences are reminded of a particular issue, the more indifferent they become. How can journalists overcome this challenge, particularly when it comes to the pressing global environmental issue? People want hope. And so, by sharing positive stories that nurture this desire for hope, the media can emphasize the urgency of the environmental crisis and develop the need for action, while avoiding the risk of indifference.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 71 1.6. IMAGINING THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL GOVERNANCE – AN INTERVIEW WITH LIU CIXIN
72 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.6. HOW TO OVERCOME PUBLIC INDIFFERENCE?
n his biography My Paper Chase: The challenges reporters and True Stories of Vanished Times, editors have to overcome while I Harold Evans, the mythological reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian editor of the British newspaper The conflict are similar to those Sunday Times, writes that the public encountered by journalists and tends to collectively forget burning editors worldwide covering the matters. Therefore, one of the many environmental crisis. It is the media’s roles played by newspapers and other role to continually remind the public news platforms is to continually and its leaders that such an urgent remind the public that this or that crisis exists and that critical actions issue is still at stake. must be done to counter it, but while Evans is right – it is crucial that doing so – they might despair and journalists will use the platform given numb the public opinion towards it. to them to state what is important, what is worth covering and debating Nevertheless, how can the over and over again. But they must international media regularly report not forget that it comes with a price, on issues related to global warming, a rather significant one, which climate change, pollution and species Israeli journalists are familiar with. extinction, as it should do, but at the Reminding readers or audiences over same time refrain from creating this and over again about a particular “indifference screen” of the public issue creates a public indifference towards it? towards it. The answer might lie in another The Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, British newspaper, The Guardian. for example, writes daily on matters In 2015, The Guardian launched an related to the Israeli occupation of environmental campaign focusing on Palestinian territories. The price we global warming and its connection “pay” for that daily reminder is that to the use of fossil fuels. Its title most of the Israeli public has become was “Keep It in The Ground,” and it “used” to reading about it by now, included articles, events, and actions and therefore is somewhat apathetic aiming to broaden the use of clean towards its daily reality. Even Israeli energy sources and disinvesting readers who consider themselves as from the fossil fuels industry. The peace-seekers often feel desperate and campaign had two phases and after helpless towards the issue, to the point the first one, the editors browsed that it numbs their potential activism. through the comments and remarks They are not to blame; it is hard to received by their audiences in order keep oneself highly interested in an to decide what direction they should ongoing daily matter. The newspaper take for the second phase. is not to blame either; it is its duty to What they found out while report. “listening” to their readers is that
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 73 When describing a hopeful narrative, readers are keener to listen.
74 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.6. HOW TO OVERCOME PUBLIC INDIFFERENCE?
“one message came through loud and regimes. Millions of people went clear,” as they described it in a Q&A out to the streets calling for change. regarding the campaign: “people The Arab Spring is attributed mostly want hope.” The editors wrote to social media, mainly Facebook that “there’s no doubting that the and Twitter. It is true that social challenges posed by climate change media supplied significant leverage are monumental, but we believe that to this uprising, but it is also the the potential of clean energy and the standard news outlets that made it stories of people finding new ways THE hopeful story of its time, while to fight climate change are currently spreading an optimistic vision from underreported.” one country to the next. Within this answer, we can find a The change-demanders went out to path that can crack the indifference the streets because they were carried wall. The positive narrative can away by a hopeful narrative. It was function as a means to continually a mesmerizing moment in global remind people about the urgency history, in which a vast cross-border of the environmental crisis while community emerged after collectively refraining from arousing potential realizing how similar their claims numbness. were, and how powerful their unity. I find it helpful when reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. When The Arab Spring is a lesson to us all. describing a hopeful narrative within It hints that a global uprising against the complex conflict, readers are the big corporations contaminating keener to listen. Positive reporting our land, waters and skies and opens the heart, and the message against their collaborators in key is more likely to come through. positions – those allowing them to Delivering the message of urgency keep compromising our health, our and nurturing the need for action environment and our safety – might is one of the most important roles be closer than we think. The outline the international media has today is not so different from the Arab regarding our planet. Spring – a global community, fed up The domino effect of “hopeful” with influential figures affecting their journalism can be observed through lives without accountability, realizes the effects of media coverage during that they share the same problems, the Arab Spring – putting aside the and thus feels that together, they varied results of the Arab Spring itself. can change this reality. When we In 2010, more than ten countries were frame it this way, it seems that an carried away by revolutionary waves Environmental Spring may be just against corrupt and non-democratic around the corner.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 75 DINA SAMAK Dina Samak is a journalist, editor and writer. She is currently the Deputy Chief Editor of Ahram Online, the English-language news web site published by Al-Ahram Establishment, Egypt’s largest news organisation. For more than 20 years Dina Samak has been covering and writing about major developments in Egypt’s politics and economy. Her work has been featured in a number of leading newspapers and TV and radio broadcasters, including BBC Arabic and Al Jazeera TV. She has also been a juror for a number of journalism awards, including the Journalistic Distinction Award given by the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate.
76 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.7. RELATABLE HEROES
2.7. Relatable heroes
Dina Samak, journalist, Al Ahram.
When global challenges are covered in the media, how much attention is paid to the most affected citizens? And how often are they painted as protagonists in stories of resistance, rather than helpless victims? People don’t change their beliefs based on facts and numbers, but inspiring stories of people who choose hope over despair could have this effect. Therefore, when giving disaster a human face, the media may do better than showing only the victims. Relatable heroes, if their stories are shared, could inspire collective action around the world.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 77 2.7. RELATABLE HEROES
n December 2016, almost all media often portrays them as victims major news outlets reported the of the actions and omissions of policy I death of Anas El-Basha, “the makers, not as survivors or, more last clown of Aleppo”. Anas El-Basha importantly, protagonists in stories of was centre director at Space of Hope, success and resistance. a civil society group working with In recent years, more and more children in ISIS-held Syria. He was researchers have argued that people killed in an airstrike over the eastern don’t change their beliefs based on part of the city. facts and numbers. The fear of forces As a news editor based in Egypt, beyond our control makes denial the I have followed the events of the only defence mechanism we have. Syrian civil war since its beginning. How can the media, then, help readers Yet the colourful face of the 24-year- feel empowered, and thus more old activist El-Basha is the image I engaged? The main way that it can, I remember most to this day, more believe, is by sharing inspiring stories than the spiralling figures of raids, of people who choose hope over casualties, and bombed cities, or the despair and resistance over apathy. international players involved in one of the deadliest wars of this century. For years, the media has attempted However, as a journalist, I have to give disasters a human face, wondered what made El-Basha’s but the only faces it shows are death newsworthy, while his life was those of the victims – images of a just another detail in the devastating dead Syrian child washed up on picture that finds its way to our the shores of Europe, or a mother screens every day. Could the story sitting with her children in the ruins of a “clown” who devoted his life to of a city levelled by a devastating cheering up traumatized children in earthquake in Haiti. These efforts a city besieged by death and violence have succeeded in raising readers’ not make more of a difference if it sympathy, but media consumers were told as a message of resistance are rarely given ways to help or act, and inspiration, rather than another other than perhaps through financial example of just how bloody the seven- donations or by signing a petition. year-old war in Syria has become? Donations may help release pain for The media covers contemporary a time in the most affected areas but, global governance challenges and in themselves, they will not put an arrangements, and thus seeks to end to global crises, nor even make uncover the dynamics of power progress towards including citizens as therein. However, as it does so, little active players in addressing them. attention is paid to the most affected In the face of global warming, citizens and what they are doing to international terrorism, or military address those challenges. Instead, the conflicts, media audiences feel
78 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.7. RELATABLE HEROES
no different than those watching other initiatives it might inspire to a disaster movie: waiting for the overcome the barriers of national and world to be saved by a superhero cultural difference. with powers far exceeding their own. Could we, instead, present the stories In 2011, while the whole world was of relatable heroes, individuals and watching the political and economic collectives who, faced with adversity, developments in post-revolution find the strength and means to resist Egypt, some young environmentalists or even overcome their challenges? who themselves were present in Ayan Muumin, a Somali mother of Tahrir square on January 25 were eight living in Vollsmose, Denmark, starting a new initiative. Nawaya is gathered a group of mothers to set an NGO that tries to help Egyptian up an initiative called Sahan. The farmers to switch from small scale volunteering mothers, with growing conventional farming communities persistence and enthusiasm, go door- to sustainable ones. Since the 1950s knocking around the poor, crime- when chemical pesticides were first ridden suburb where immigrants used in Egypt, more than a million reside, talking to neighbours and metric tons of pesticides have been inviting them to share their food released into the environment. But and stories. Many of the mothers for the young men and women who volunteering were once vicitims launched Nawaya, the change they of discrimination and alienation, seek could only be accomplished by while some had to deal with the looking beyond organic or fair-trade threats of possible radicalization of production. With volunteer experts in their children, but instead of feeling the fields of sustainable agriculture, vulnerable or helpless, these women eco-housing, development, education chose to make a difference no matter and social-integration, Nawaya how small it is. trains underprivileged farmers and Over 150 women volunteer for introduces them to a new mode of this organization today, running a collective thinking and action. community hotline to advise other In the micro societies that Nawaya mothers on how to deal with their attempts to build, everyone is children against radicalization. involved in decision making and While dozens from Denmark have planning for the future. The same joined ISIS in the last few years, farmers who start as trainees become there are no reported cases from trainers themselves, passing the Vollsmose. I wonder how this under- message and the experience forward. reported success story could inspire This initiative, which survived mothers in countries like France and the political turmoil during the Holland or even Tunisia, Egypt, and past years, is one of the few that Afghanistan – and beyond, what have a comprehensive, collective
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 79 What we need from the media at such a crucial time is more stories telling us that we, as citizens, do matter and can have a huge impact.
80 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 2.7. RELATABLE HEROES
vision about changing the rural of a wider active network that has community in Egypt from the bottom a vision towards the future of this up. However, not many people fractured world; a network that can know about Nawaya and the daily both learn from and inspire others challenges faced by its volunteers. around the globe. Due to conceptual and practical At the same time that global factors, the media struggles to challenges become increasingly report on daily issues outside glass pressing, fake news and alternative rooms and conference halls. Budgets facts are creating more alienation, are shrinking, and there is greater apathy, and pessimism. What we pressure than ever to produce more need from the media at such a crucial articles in less time to maximize time is more stories telling us that audience and profit. With these we, as citizens, do matter and can factors in mind, putting a human have a huge impact. From migrant face on global challenges is so mothers fighting radicalization in difficult that these efforts should be Denmark to young people trying to applauded, even though they are not build alternative sustainable societies enough to inspire the kind of plural in Egypt, only stories of real people engagement in which global citizens resisting can inspire us to get out and grasp the importance of being part make the change the world needs.
Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 81 Endnotes
1. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/624782/yolanda-czar-is-no-american-caesar 2. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hurricane-force/ 3. http://www.pewglobal.org/2018/01/11/publics-globally-want-unbiased-news- coverage-but-are-divided-on-whether-their-news-media-deliver/ 4. http://www.latinobarometro.org/latNewsShow.jsp 5. Gorilla in the Congo: http://100photos.time.com/photos/brent-stirton-gorilla- congo 6. Famine in Somalia: http://100photos.time.com/photos/james-nachtwey-famine- in-somalia 7. Somali Famine ‘killed 260,000’ people: http://www.bbc.com/news/world- africa-22380352 8. A grisly photo of a Saigon execution 50 years ago shocked the world and helped end the war: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/ wp/2018/02/01/a-grisly-photo-of-a-saigon-execution-50-years-ago-shocked-the- world-and-helped-end-the-war/?utm_term=.0710061b8a43 9. Scenes from the Ebola Outbreak: https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com//2015/04/20/ daniel-berehulak-the-ebola-crisis-earn-photography-pulitzer/#slid eshow/100000003638457/100000003638462 10. Starving Polar Bear Photographer Explains Why She Couldn’t Help: https://www. nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/12/mittermeier-polar-bear- starving-climate-change/ 11. Photojournalist Paula Bronstein on the Afghanistan stories that don’t go away: http://www.bjp-online.com/2016/08/photojournalist-paula-bronstein-on-the- afghanistan-stories-that-dont-go-away/ 12. The global state of the internet in April 2017: https://thenextweb.com/ contributors/2017/04/11/current-global-state-internet/#.tnw_iUhkTTm1
82 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION
Continuing the conversation
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Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018 83 84 Global Challenges Quarterly Report 2018