Press Releases

Reporters on the Front Lines of Disaster

Nairobi Roundtable Underlines Importance of Local Media in Humanitarian Response

(October 7, 2008) Twelve African journalists with experience reporting on floods, Ebola outbreaks, refugee crises and civil war joined representatives from international relief agencies in Nairobi late last month to explore the role of local media in natural or manmade disasters. The intensive three-day roundtable was the first step in a joint research initiative by Internews Network and the Fritz Institute to make the case to the international community that local media have the power to maximize the effectiveness of humanitarian response.

“I learned so much more during the three days of the roundtable than I had from my close to ten months on reporting on the post-election violence in Kenya, as the other participants from other countries had a lot of information I could draw from,” said Kenyan journalist Fatma Mohammed. “I hope that in order for us to keep in touch with the humanitarian organizations in the country, a sustainable link can be set up.”

The main roundtable moderator was Edward Girardet, a journalist with extensive experience in humanitarian reporting around the world. He was supported by Mark Frohardt, Internews Vice President for Africa, Health and Humanitarian Media, and Alison Campbell, Senior Media Advisor to Internews, who has extensive experience in humanitarian media work.

The roundtable, “Making the Case for Local Media in Humanitarian Response” brought together experienced journalists from Mozambique, Chad, Uganda and Kenya with representatives of Kenyan and international NGOs, for an open discussion on the issues each party faces when dealing with the other.

The humanitarian organizations that participated in the roundtable included Care International, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); Kenya Red Cross; the United Nations’ humanitarian news service, IRIN; the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA); UNICEF; the US Agency for International Development (USAID); and World Vision.

The organizations shared their impressions on how the media and humanitarian agencies could work together for mutual effectiveness. These included knowing, in times of emergencies, the correct person to talk to at a particular organization; keeping abreast with developing issues in the humanitarian field to be able to ask relevant questions; and working together to deal with logistical issues when traveling to a humanitarian disaster zone.

The journalists in attendance have experienced and reported on various humanitarian disasters in their countries, including natural disasters such as floods in Mozambique and Ebola outbreaks in Uganda; and manmade disasters due to conflict, such as the influx of refugees from Sudan to Chad and the internal displacement of local populations in Chad and Kenya.

The roundtable was organized by Internews and funded by the Fritz Institute, a world leader in humanitarian response. In preparation for the roundtable, the participating journalists held an online discussion on the Internews Humanitarian Media blog.

When Professional Becomes Personal: One Journalist’s Story

Frank Nyakairu is a Ugandan journalist who participated in the roundtable. He shared an experience with the group:

“The editor told me to go and cover the story of a plane crash. It was only when I was in the process of collecting information for my story that I realized that not only had the President of Southern Sudan, John Garang been killed, but my father, who had served for many years as the Ugandan president’s pilot, had also perished in the crash. That day I did not complete my assignment.”

Nyakairu was sent to cover the story based on his experience as a conflict and human rights reporter. Covering the story was significant because of the uncertainty as to whether Southern Sudan would revert back to war or forge forward with peace after the death of Garang - the man who was instrumental in signing the peace accord with North Sudan President Omar Al Bashir.

The Southern Sudanese people maintained the peace amid speculations about who may have killed Garang. As for Nyakairu, his resilience (he was once jailed for his reporting) in pursuing stories in conflict zones continued. He was involved in reporting the humanitarian crisis in his country in Northern Uganda, the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the post-election violence in Kenya.