What is humanitarian news? A multi-sited study of how journalists define, debate and reproduce the boundaries of humanitarianism

新形式的数字媒体生产和接收在全球范围内的迅速传播通常被视为带来了“当代人道主义的繁荣”（Barnett and Weiss 2013:9）。然而，从来没有人研究过世界上最大的人道主义新闻机构，它们的报道被认为对从事人道主义救援工作的救援人员、政策制定者和捐助者具有很大的影响力。特别是，我们对这些新闻机构的人道主义、新闻制作以及两者之间的关系几乎一无所知。我们也还不太了解人道主义新闻机构所产生的文本的独特特征。本研究的主要目的是通过对综合区域信息网络（IRIN）和汤森路透基金会（TRF）这两个主要的全球人道主义新闻来源进行为期12个月的比较分析，来纠正这种情况。这是由于我们能够以前所未有的水平访问这些组织而成为可能。事实上，自2015年1月以来，我们已经与IRIN进行了一项小规模的试点研究，我们已经测试了我们的方法，完善了我们的研究问题，并开发了一个合适的项目管理模型。我们的研究将集中在三个主要领域。首先，我们感兴趣的是这些组织中不同的人对人道主义的看法。人道主义的概念是否意味着某种苦难的限度- -无论是从受影响的人数还是从危机的严重程度来看？关注灾难的直接后果更重要，还是关注慢性危机的缓慢发生和预防危机的努力更重要？其次，我们关注新闻生产的惯例和做法如何影响记者追求他们所重视的人道主义新闻形式的能力。例如，物理位置、在线协作工作和不同数字媒体的使用如何塑造人道主义新闻内容？第三，我们的目标是调查IRIN和TRF的实际产出彼此之间以及与其他新闻机构（特别是BBC世界服务（BBCWS）和路透社）的实际产出之间的区别。人道主义新闻机构是否以独特的方式报道苦难？他们如何界定人道主义危机的责任和后果？他们的采购实践和多媒体材料的使用有何独特之处？为了回答这三组研究问题，我们将进行(1)与IRIN， TRF， BBCWS和路透社进行广泛的新闻编辑室观察，主要在伦敦，但也在曼谷和内罗毕，(2)定期采访相关记者和编辑，(3)对他们的产出进行长期内容分析和框架分析，为期12个月。我们的项目管理模式包括每两周一次和每季度一次的团队会议，向研究伙伴的例行报告，以及研究人员技能分享的互惠过程，所有这些都由项目导师监督。我们的研究结果将直接分发给IRIN和基金会，以及媒体研究、新闻研究和发展研究的学者，以及相关的新闻机构、资助者、监管机构、公共服务广播机构、人道主义界和公众。研究结果将通过社会和主流媒体、学术文章、会议论文、行业重点最终报告和“融合”传播活动进行传播。

The rapid spread of new forms of digital media production and reception around the globe is often seen as bringing about a 'contemporary flourishing of humanitarianism' (Barnett and Weiss 2013:9). Yet no one has ever studied the world's largest humanitarian news agencies, whose output is regarded as highly influential for relief workers, policy makers and donors working in humanitarian response. In particular, we know almost nothing about such news agencies' approaches to humanitarianism, news-making, and the relationship between the two. Nor do we yet understand much about the distinctive characteristics of the texts humanitarian news agencies produce. The main objective of this research is to remedy this situation by conducting a 12 month comparative analysis of two major global sources of humanitarian news, Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) and the Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF). This is made possible by the unprecedented level of access to these organisations we have been able to achieve. Indeed, we have already been conducting a small-scale pilot study with IRIN since January 2015 in which we have tested our methodology, refined our research questions and developed a suitable project management model. Our research will focus on three main areas. First, we are interested in what different people within these organisations think humanitarianism is. Does the concept of humanitarianism imply a certain threshold of suffering - either in terms of the number of people affected or the severity of the crisis? Is it more important to focus the immediate aftermath of a disaster or the slow-onset of chronic crises and efforts to prevent them? Secondly, we are concerned with the ways in which the routines and practices of news production affect journalists' ability to pursue the forms of humanitarian news that they value. How does physical location, online collaborative working and the use of different digital media shape humanitarian news content, for example?Thirdly, we aim to investigate what distinguishes the actual outputs of IRIN and TRF from each other and from that of other news organisations - especially the BBC World Service (BBCWS) and Reuters. Do humanitarian news organisations represent suffering in distinct ways? How do they attribute responsibility and frame the consequences of humanitarian crises? What, if anything, is unique about their sourcing practices, and use of multi-media material? In order to answer these three sets of research questions we will be conducting (1) extensive newsroom observations with IRIN, TRF, the BBCWS and Reuters, primarily in London, but also in Bangkok and Nairobi, (2) regular interviews with relevant journalists and editors and (3) a long-term content analysis and framing analysis of their outputs, over a 12 month period. Our model of project management involves fortnightly and quarterly team meetings, routine reporting to research partners and a reciprocal process of researcher skill-sharing, all overseen by a project mentor. The results of our study will be disseminated directly to IRIN and TRF and to academics in media studies, journalism studies and development studies as well as relevant news organisations, funders, regulators, public service broadcasters, the humanitarian sector and the general public. Results will be disseminated through social and mainstream media, academic articles, conference papers, an industry focussed final report and a 'fusion' dissemination event.