Papers by David Ongenaert
International Journal of Communication, 2023
As refugee organizations' communication can influence public perceptions, this study analyzes the... more As refugee organizations' communication can influence public perceptions, this study analyzes the underlying motivations and practices. To explain Norwegian Refugee Council's (NRC) public communication strategies toward the recent Syrian and Central African crises, we conducted a 3-week office ethnography at its main communication department, interviewed 10 communication officers, and analyzed key communication policy documents. First, NRC's discursive strategies are molded by medium-based and/or context-sensitive routines, organizational goals and trends, and challenging institutional and societal contexts. Second, NRC's crisis foci are institutionally shaped through the "Vicious Neglected Crisis Circle effect," which is reinforced and/or limited by organizational and individual (counter) incentives, sensitive contexts, and context-sensitive routines. Third, NRC's choice of represented forcibly displaced people is influenced by various selection criteria and sociodemographic-specific reasons. Thus, complex organizational, institutional, and societal contexts largely shape public communication strategies, suggesting that reflexivity and structural institutional changes are essential to achieve more balanced, representative humanitarian imageries.
International Communication Gazette, 2023
Forcibly displaced people often face restrictive migration policies and stereotypical discourses.... more Forcibly displaced people often face restrictive migration policies and stereotypical discourses. Therefore, this study analyzes UNHCR's public communication strategies towards the Syrian and Central African crises. Through a comparative-synchronic multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) of UNHCR's (international) press releases (N = 28), news stories (N = 233), photos (N = 462) and videos (N = 50) of 2015, we examined its main representation and argumentation strategies. First, we found that UNHCR primarily represents forcibly displaced people in its press releases and news as victimized and/or voiceless masses, reproducing humanitarian savior and deservingness logics. However, stories, photos, and videos frequently portray them also as empowered individuals. This can be partially explained by media logics and political and private sector discourses and agenda-building opportunities. Moreover, UNHCR mainly voices pity-based and post-humanitarian Self-oriented solidarity discourses, and links protection to states’ (perceived) interests. Finally, these discursive strategies respond to dominant migration management paradigms and the increasingly neoliberalized, political realist international refugee regime (IRR).
Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap, 2022
Hoewel het aantal gedwongen ontheemde mensen wereldwijd toeneemt, worden ze vaak geconfronteerd m... more Hoewel het aantal gedwongen ontheemde mensen wereldwijd toeneemt, worden ze vaak geconfronteerd met restrictieve migratiebeleidsmaatregelen en negatieve publieke opinies. In deze context is publieke communicatie essentieel voor de werking van vluchtelingenorganisaties. Dit artikel bediscussieert de belangrijkste bevindingen van een 'mixed-methods', multidimensioneel doctoraatsonderzoek over de publieke communicatiestrategieën van internationale vluchtelingenorganisaties, en doet aanbevelingen voor toekomstig onderzoek en het praktische werkveld.
Media and Communication, 2019
The world has faced a major increase in forced displacement and the theme has also become the sub... more The world has faced a major increase in forced displacement and the theme has also become the subject of many public , media and political debates. The public communication of refugee organizations thereby increasingly impacts their operations, the public perception on forcibly displaced people and societal and policy beliefs and actions. However, little research has been conducted on the topic. Therefore, this conceptual article aims to (1) define refugee organizations' public communication, (2) situate it within broader research fields, and (3) motivate the latter's relevance as research perspectives. In order to be able to achieve these research objectives, the article first discusses the social and scientific relevance of the research subject and identifies important gaps within literature which both form an essential scientific base for developing the main arguments. Adopting a historical perspective, the article demonstrates that in recent decades the social and scientific relevance of research on strategic and non-profit communication in general and on refugee orga-nizations' public communication in particular have increased. Nevertheless, these fields remain underdeveloped and are mostly text-focused, while the production and reception dimensions are barely explored. Remarkably, however, little or no research has been conducted from an organizational communication perspective, although this article demonstrates that the subject can be adequately embedded in and examined from the fields of strategic, non-profit and public communication. Finally, the article highlights the relevance of the holistic Communicative Constitution of Organizations perspective and argues that future research can benefit by adopting multi-perspective, practice-oriented, multi-methodological, comparative and/or interdisciplinary approaches.
Disasters, 2019
The world has seen a major increase in forced displacement since 2011. As a growing number of sta... more The world has seen a major increase in forced displacement since 2011. As a growing number of states implement restrictive refugee policies, public communication has become essential for refugee organisations. This study analysed, therefore, three international refugee organisations’ discursive strategies towards the recent Syrian crisis, as well as their production and the social context. A critical discourse analysis of international press releases (N=122) and six semi-structured interviews with press and regional officers revealed that the observed actors largely dehumanise displaced people and subordinate them to the ‘Western self’ and state interests; displaced people hardly ever acquire their own voice. The study found that the medium characteristics of press releases and the importance of media attention result in a depersonalising humanitarian discourse. In addition, there were indications of a post-humanitarian discourse that reproduced the humanitarian sector’s ‘marketisation’. Finally, the examined organisations use the political realist cross-issue persuasion strategy, displaying displaced people as resettlement objects.
Our planet is currently facing the worst refugee crisis since World War II (UNHCR, 2016a). Refuge... more Our planet is currently facing the worst refugee crisis since World War II (UNHCR, 2016a). Refugee organisations therefore play a vital role in protecting the rights and well-being of refugees all over the world (Gibney, 2010). As a growing number of states have implemented increasingly restrictive asylum policies, public communication has become a vital instrument in the daily functioning of refugee organisations (Dijkzeul & Moke, 2005). Hence, this study investigates the discursive strategies of public communication of refugee organisations and the production and broader societal context. Using a critical discourse analysis (Fairclough,1995), we examine the press releases concerning the Syrian refugee crisis of three international refugee organisations. Semi-structured interviews with press officers and regional representatives of these organisations constitute additional research material. We come to the conclusion that refugees are dehumanized and made of minor importance compared to the ‘Western self’ and national state interests. We find out that several production practices underlie these distorted immoral representations. Initially, the importance of attracting media attention and the medium specificity of press releases leads to a representation of refugees as a homogeneous mass. Secondly, we notice indications of a self-directed discourse directed at self-development, which we consider as the result of a marketization of the humanitarian sector. Thirdly, refugee organisations also use cross-issue persuasion which represents refugees as mere objects of resettlement. Nevertheless, we can’t consider press officers as the only causes of biased refugee representations. The broader social practice of institutions and values in which refugee organisations function has also influenced press releases. More specifically, we find in this case study indications that the investigated organisations reflect and reproduce humanitarian, neoliberal and realist discourses.
Deze studie onderzoekt de beeldvorming binnen Vlaamse kranten van westerse en niet-westerse hulpo... more Deze studie onderzoekt de beeldvorming binnen Vlaamse kranten van westerse en niet-westerse hulporganisaties die steun verleenden aan de Filipijnen nadat het werd getroffen door tyfoon Haiyan (2013). Een kritisch geïnspireerde kwalitatieve inhoudsanalyse leert dat westerse hulporganisaties, en in het bijzonder Belgische instanties, meer en positievere media-aandacht verkrijgen dan niet-westerse hulporganisaties. Dit duidt op een onderliggende praktijk en discours van ‘Othering’.
Every year various natural disasters take place in non-Western countries. In such situations, hum... more Every year various natural disasters take place in non-Western countries. In such situations, humanitarian aid is crucial. Other important actors in this domain are news media, as it is mainly through media reports the world perceives international crises (Pantti, Wahl-Jorgensen & Cottle, 2012). News media however, are not neutral because they reproduce the dominant ideologies of society (Van Dijk, 2009). That’s the reason why this study investigates how Western news media represent Western and non-Western aid agencies during natural disasters in non-Western countries. Likewise, we investigate the underlying causes of these representations. Thus, we want to figure out whether and how news coverage on aid agencies contributes to the reproduction of Western power discourses. Using critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1995), we analyse the articles of six Flemish newspapers on aid agencies which provided support to the Philippines after it was hit by typhoon Haiyan. We come to the conclusion that Western aid agencies, in particular Belgian actors, receive more and positive media attention than non-Western aid agencies. We find out that several journalistic practices underlie these distorted media representations. Initially, the importance of new values such as proximity and the possibility of domestication leads to bias in the selection of disasters. However, the news itself is distorted by an extensive use of domestication and narratives of blame assignment. This effect is reinforced by the excessive dependence on Western elite sources. Especially the strong interrelationship between the journalistic and the NGO sector raises questions about the impartiality of disaster reporting. Nevertheless, we can’t consider news editors as the only causes of biased disaster reporting. The broader social practice of institutions and values in which news media function has influence on media reports. More specifically, we find in this case study indications that the investigated news media reproduce an Orientalist discourse.
Book Reviews by David Ongenaert
Communications The European Journal of Communication Research, 2021
Communications The European Journal of Communication Research, 2020
Recently, major political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological developments in the fields... more Recently, major political, economic, socio-cultural, and technological developments in the fields of humanitarianism and of media have resulted in challenges and opportunities for both domains and their intersections in particular. Existing research on the interactions between these fields, however, focuses primarily on contemporary cases and considers these challenges and opportunities, partly due to these recent developments, often too quickly as completely new. A historical perspective that acknowledges precedents and continuities is thus often missing. Responding to this academic gap, editor Johannes Paulmann investigates in the interdisciplinary volume Humanitarianism & media: 1900 to the present if and how humanitarian imagery can be situated within the broader, intertwined history of humanitarianism and media, and this from a text, production and institutional perspective. The book demonstrates to be a highly relevant and wide-ranging contribution to the literature and debate on this theme. Drawing on different types of empirical research and theoretical strands of research, various historians, anthropologists, and media and communication scholars offer relevant insights into cases dating from the 19 th to the 21 st century. Paulmann essentially argues that it is important to examine media in a multidimensional (and not only textual) manner and to contextualize and historicize the interwoven relationship between humanitarian-ism and media. By doing so, he and the other contributors question and nuance assumptions about established key theories and concepts such as 'compassion fatigue', 'mediatization', 'denial', and 'ironic spectatorship', and investigate if and how humanitarian imagery and humanitarian and media organizations and systems are part of wider ideological and power relations. Looking closer, the edited volume consists of an introductory chapter and twelve empirical case studies. As the latter are thematically, geographically, and temporally quite diverse, the book initially seems to be somewhat fragmentary. However, several intra-chapter references and structuring common threads such as patterns, professionalization, and the (non-)political character of humanitarian imagery, the politics of aid and media, and the mediatization and mediation
Communications The European Journal of Communication Research, 2020
In recent decades, the fields of journalism, advocacy, politics, and technology have been transfo... more In recent decades, the fields of journalism, advocacy, politics, and technology have been transformed fundamentally, resulting in new societal contexts in which the communication of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is produced , disseminated, and received. Within these evolving contexts, Matthew Powers-one of the leading scholars in the field of NGO-journalism studies-provides an in-depth analysis of the journalistic roles of humanitarian and human rights NGOs. Adopting a multi-perspective,-disciplinary, and-methodological approach and drawing on diverse strands of research and theoretical frameworks , NGOs as newsmakers offers relevant insights into the communication efforts of these actors. The book proves to be a significant, innovative and wide-ranging contribution to the relatively fragmented academic literature and debate on contemporary NGO journalism in general and its content, production, and-to a lesser extent-reception dimensions. More concretely, NGOs as newsmakers consists of seven chapters which, using a historicized and contextualized approach, focus on various relevant but barely explored aspects of NGOs' communication efforts. The introductory chapter of NGOs as newsmakers discusses the research approach and central argument of the work, the state of the art, the selected theoretical frameworks, and provides an outline of the subsequent chapters. As such, the reader is immediately informed about the focus, context, and architecture of the book, which makes it even more readable. Chapter two then examines the longitudinal evolutions of the number and types of communication efforts of some leading humanitarian and human rights NGOs, their underlying reasons as well as broader implications. Drawing on these findings and a content analysis of humanitarian and human rights news found in leading American news outlets, chapter three investigates if and how the selected NGOs have also obtained a larger access to news media. Chapter four then focuses on how the NGOs use digital tools in their communication efforts. In connection therewith, chapter five examines why the NGOs prefer mainstream news coverage, despite new digital opportunities. Similarly, chapter six explores why journalistic norms continue to
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Papers by David Ongenaert
Book Reviews by David Ongenaert