Global Issues

When Information Saves Lives

Engaging Local Media in Humanitarian Crises

Mohammad Abu Shahmeh/Internews Working with four Palestinian radio stations, Internews organized a humanitarian news service for Gazans in January 2009.

"If we had no radio we would have been in complete darkness about what was going on around us." — Abu Ali, Gaza resident

What Local Media Can Provide

Lifesaving Information

Local media can interpret humanitarian information and report to their audiences, providing critically important information during a crisis. This can be as simple as letting Gazans under siege know when and where food and blankets are being distributed.

Voice of the Community

Local media can serve as the voice of the community, creating an informed dialogue between humanitarian organizations and aid recipients. When relief agencies urged Darfur refugees to use solar cookers instead of hunting for scarce firewood, Radio Absoun, a community radio station in Iriba, Chad, covered the story. The station’s reporting helped refugees to voice their concerns—including objections that the cooking did not taste as good—but also made them more aware of the consequences of firewood collection on the environment and on relations with local Chadians.

Public Forums

Local media can also create public forums to guide reconstruction and future preparedness, while exposing corruption and inefficiencies in the rebuilding process. Peuneugah Aceh (Voice of Aceh) was a radio program providing news of relief and reconstruction for the Indonesian province of Aceh after the Asian tsunami. The program once reported that there was no clean water in the Lhong Raya IDP camp because the roads were too muddy and difficult for the water trucks. A few days later, the camp leader called the reporter to thank him: water deliveries had resumed.

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