Introduction: Humanitarian Communication in the 21st Century

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces the core dimensions of humanitarian communication – disaster, development, human rights and war – each providing a comprehensive review of the main debates within its domain. It reviews the literature on the relationship between media and disaster and argues that, in spite of the democratizing effects of digital media, disasters remain inserted into established cultural frames of emergency, which may effectively attract international aid but simultaneously naturalize suffering and produce voiceless victims who lack moral agency. The book introduces audience research and argues for the necessity of investigating viewers’ responses to media images of human suffering and humanitarian campaigns in order to move beyond pessimistic narratives about public apathy and compassion fatigue. It explores humanitarian communication at the intersection of global market competition and social media networks.