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Summary: As a half bred anthropologist / journalist that
works in development communications I have
always been interested in the idea and
practice of representation. It was this very
practice that I was forced to look at, up close,
on a recent trip to Niger, where I was
assisting those working on the current food
security crisis.
As a half bred anthropologist / journalist that works in development
communications I have always been interested in the idea and practice of
representation. It was this very practice that I was forced to look at, up
close, on a recent trip to Niger, where I was assisting those working on
the current food security crisis. Playing a PR role I interacted briefly with a
number of international journalists, many of whom were requesting
telephone interviews. What troubled me was the simplistic, stereotypical
approach that some journalists took in relation to the crisis. I was asked,
for example, âWhat type of images am I likely to getâŚ?â An honest and
logical question for a journalist to ask, one might argue; but it became
clear that the subtext to this line of questioning was: how emaciated are
the bodies?
All of which forced me to reconsider if in crises such as the current one in
Niger, the media consuming âpublicâ gets what it wants and needs; or
instead gets what those in control of the process of representation [in this
case reporting] thinks they want. Perhaps the news media is not a good
example when it comes to critiquing representations of the developing
world. The constraints â both in terms of time and money â that journalists
operate under are old news. With such pressures perhaps it would be
naĂŻve to imagine that the news media will ever be in a position to explore
the subtleties and complexities of a situation such as Niger. When time and
money are thin, black and white is preferred. Shades of grey and
willingness to understanding and crucially convey the characteristics of
Nigerâs reality are not even attempted.
So whatâs the problem you might say? This is the reality; just donât expect
the mass media to do you any favours when it comes to broadening
development discourse. That said; it is a reality that should be resisted.
Compassion fatigue is a phrase that is used today to describe the publicâs
lack of interest in international news or development crises, assuming of
course that there is some bench mark against which to measure such
fatigue. But the point remains that this fatigue is attributed to
sensationalist reporting [representation]; the argument being that ever
increasingly graphic portrayals of the developing world have left a northern
audience desensitized, numbed, overwhelmed.
It is not that these graphic representations of the developing world are
dishonest. They exist because the reality which they depict exists.
Children, for example, are dying in Niger and have died because of the
recent crisis. But what is problematic is that they are in danger of becoming
the norm. And that would be self-defeating. If it is looked at from purely a
media engagement perspective, as the media slides along and ever
necessary graphic representation so the audience becomes increasingly
numbed or overwhelmed and so an even more graphic image / story is
required if interest is to be maintained. And so on and so forth.
The recent Tsunami that hit in Asia saw an overwhelming public response.
It has been suggested that the public response was â in part â driven by
the "simplicity" of the situation. The tragedy was immediately
comprehendible and the solutions tangible; all of which helped people to
feel that something could be done in response to that situation, hence â
arguably â the response.
While it might be tempting to deal in simplicity, clearly as agencies focused
on the rights of the child we also have a responsibility to ensure that
children are represented honestly and meaningfully. And that we resist the
simplistic or extreme presentation of them both in our interaction with the
mass media; and in our own literature. Not only because we are in danger
of contributing to and suffering from the same fatigue that the media is
accused of, but also because to do anything less would be dishonest. And
it would negate the lives of so many in the developing world that do not
inhabit the world of the extreme, but who are nevertheless in need of
engagement and understanding on the part of an external audience.
For example, is the dignity of a child and its family less affected by the fact
that it has to eat animal fodder and leaves, than a child whose family has
nothing left to eat at all? Is a child whose hair is yellow from a constant
and sever lack of protein and drops out of school any less affected than a
child who can no longer support the weight of its own body because it
limbs are so atrophied? It must be remembered that this is not the first
time that Nigerâs population has suffered extreme food shortages. Indeed
perennial malnutrition of children has been described as ânormalâ in Niger
as it has in many, many developing countries.
I mentioned the responsibility on the part of development agencies to
resist stereotypical representations. I would also suggest that part of that
resistance requires a concerted effort to put children in the developing
world in the driving seat when it comes to making those representations.
They should be the agents of their own representation. Clearly that is
difficult and challenging in a situation such as Niger, but it is not impossible.
And it is certainly something that Plan is striving for i.e. to enable children
to express their opinions and priorities.
What is lost if these stereotypical representations are not resisted is the
opportunity to convey a broader understanding of the facets of situations
such as the one in Niger to audiences in the north, and crucially to other
children there. Again if children and their communities are not encouraged,
and supported, to make their own representations of self there will always
be the possibility that they will suffer from the misrepresentation by the
other.
What is certain, however, is that the discussion around the animal fodder
eating child requires reflection. That child can not neatly be packaged off
into the black and white world of stereotypes. This child forces us to
recognise that the so called developing world can not be reduced to
extremes, and that the myriad of reasons that results in a child being
forced to eat leave and cattle fodder need to be acknowledged.
Ann Birch is Regional Communications Advisor for Plan West Africa.
This article represents the opinion of the author and can not be attributed
to Plan.
Plan is one of the worldâs largest international child centered development
organisations.
For more information please visit www.plan-interantional.org or email:
ann.birch@plan-international.org