Compassion Fatigue and the Famine Formula

1. Compassion Fatigue and the Famine Formula The Horn of Africa, 2011

2. Compassion Fatigue: • Analysts of journalism argue that the media has caused widespread compassion fatigue in society by saturating newspapers and news shows with often decontextualized images and stories of suffering • This has caused the public to become cynical, or become resistant to helping people who are suffering.

3. The Image as Message • Image as metonym – part stands in for the whole • Single image seen to explain the whole event • This is especially the case with “atrocity pictures”

4. Simple, iconic images of famine – distilling down the story • Personifications that help to explain events, with victims, heroes, and villains

5. Images can have a didactic function, serve to focus the audience’s attention • But this attention is not sustained, is short-term • What effect do these images have on audiences?

6. Simple images lend to simple conclusions about the causes of famine • Contribute to causes of famine being attributed to nature • “Simple emergency” • Natural disaster

7. But what if famine is a “complex emergency”? • The natural versus the human-made • Complex causes such as war, economic breakdown

8. Examples of other “complex emergencies” linked to famine • 1941–44 Leningrad (Today’s St. Petersburg) famine • Caused by a 900-day blockade by German troops during WWII • About one million Leningrad residents starved, froze, or were bombed to death in the winter of 1941–42, when supply routes to the city were cut off and temperatures dropped to −40 degrees

9. News –values • “If it bleeds, it leads” • Scott Bob, Somalia 1992 • “My editor wants us to get the sounds of death” • Framing the emergency in particular ways

10. Media Structures • Famines happen to Others • Stereotyped images • Stock phrases • Common abstractions • Reinforcing established ways of interpreting news • Drawing on reserves of stories already told

11. The Famine Formula • 1. People must be starving to death • 2. Causes and solutions must be simplified • 3. Famine story told as morality play between good and evil • 4. There must be images

12. The 4-Stage Chronological Pattern • 1. The famine is imminent • 2. Progression of starvation • 3. Precipitating event leads to moral call-to-action • 4. If no other major international or national event takes its place in popular imaginary, then becomes cultural and moral bellwether (frontrunner, leader)

13. Victims • Women and children • Rarely given voice, but are often photographed • Images of innocence

14. Heroes • Generally Western • Intervene to provide humanitarian aid • Eg. Medecins Sans Frontieres • Doctors, nurses, aid workers • Given extensive voice in coverage

15. Villains • Those who prevent humanitarian aid from being distributed • Eg. “Warlords” • Villains become more a part of the story as it unfolds

16. The “Archetypical Famine” • Ethiopia, 1984 • Several years of drought • Domestic priorities • MengistuHaileMariamleader of government • 46% of national budget spent on arms • Decade earlier, overthrow of Emperor HaileSelassie • Estimated that between 400,000 and one million people died

17. The Media Influence • Brian Stewart CBC Ethiopia 1984 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFPr-zAXNuc • Brian Stewart on Birhan Woldu, 2004 • www.cbc.ca/news/background/ethiopia

18. Michel Buerk BBC report on the famine in Ethiopia 1984 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj2jf0US8zI

19. “Maybe one of the most important and influential pieces of news ever broadcasted.” • Buerk's autobiography says it made the Australian PM weep in public and started a massive international aid operation

20. Popular Culture Responds to the Crisis • Also inspired Bob Geldof (with Midge Ure from Ultravox) to write “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, released 7 December 1984 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5cX_ncZLls • The fastest selling single ever • Raised ₤8 million

21. Inspired USA for Africa’s “We are the World.” • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9BNoNFKCBI

22. Live Aid • 13 July 1985 • 2 simultaneous concerts • Wembley Stadium, London, UK – approximately 72,000 people • JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, US – approximately 100,000 people

23. The Communication Link • Large scale satellite links and live TV broadcasts mean watched by a global audience in 150 nations of an estimated 1.9 million people • At one stage, claim that 95% of all TVs were tuned in • Imagine making this happen in the time before Twitter, cell phones, etc.

24. Joan Baez, on stage in US: • “This is your Woodstock and it is long overdue.”

25. Show Me the Money • Geldof had hoped to raise ₤1 million (around $2.4 million US) • Actually raised ₤150 million • Acts include (UK) U2, Queen, The Who, Paul McCartney and (US) Madonna, Bob Dylan, CSNY, Ozzy Osborne

26. Somalia Famine of 1992

27. Live 8 • Make Poverty History Snap UK Ad • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFx9cINLQoc • US AD • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mJU58A9SNc&feature=related

28. Famine Today • Horn of Africa – including Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan – 2011 • Said to be the most widespread in 25 years • http://www.one.org/c/international/hottopic/4060/

29. 2011 The F Word: Famine is the Real Obscenity (US) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzcRSr6PW_o • one.org • http://www.one.org/international/

30. Compare and Contrast • Live Aid • Live 8