Introduction

This introduction explains the aims of the book, examining how the increasing availability of words and images produced by non-journalists (‘user-generated content’) and facilitated by social media platforms has affected reporting of humanitarian disasters and relationships between journalists and aid agencies. This book takes an empirical approach and speaks to more than 100 journalists, aid agencies and creators of UGC. The chapter defines what kind of humanitarian disasters will be focused on in the book, looking at ‘natural’ events that affect human societies, and those socially produced and media-stimulated phenomena. It lays out the areas that the book will scrutinise: the growth of the use of UGC at a time of budget cuts and increasing rapidity of the news cycle; problems around verification and diverse voices; UGC’s focus on the spectacular and immediate rather than long-term and chronic. It lays out the potential disruption that UGC may have between the relationship of journalists and aid agencies who have traditionally bartered name-checks for access to disaster zones.

The chapter concludes with a summary of the following chapters which look at the theoretical background, the empirical research detailing how journalists and aid agencies see their relationship to each other; how both see UGC; case studies of aid agencies’s use of Twitter, blogs and social media influencers as well as Save the Children’s Global Media Unit; case studies of the BBC UGC Hub and GuardianWitness; interviews with UGC creators themselves; plus discussion of ethical considerations around payment, permission and privacy; and the conclusions reached.