“Take any crisis that makes the headlines — the flow of refugees in the Middle East, Europe and the Horn of Africa; outbreaks of deadly or devastating viruses such as Ebola or Zika; drought emergencies in Ethiopiaand Malawi. Does journalism help to explain them? Or solve them?
These questions were asked at the Polis conference of the London School of Economics on 21 April. The day focused on the refugee crisis in Europe and the Middle East. And the title, Journalism and Crisis, was meant to reflect both the humanitarian crisis and the crisis in reporting brought about by the digital age — the “leaps in technical capability”, new finance structures and explosion of social media power that Columbia School of Journalism director Emily Bell powerfully charts.
This double meaning reverberated throughout the day’s discussions. And looking at how the refugee crisis is reported was revealing of the state of journalism. But this is not merely about journalistic self-reflection or navel-gazing. It’s about the difference journalism makes to how societies deal with crises.”