BBC Media Action launches new humanitarian website

BBC Media Action has launched a new humanitarian website with research, video examples and commentary on what people want from media in a crisis, and how the media can best help people affected.

Using data from evaluations in Lebanon and Jordan, Gaza, West Africa, Nepal, Somalia and Bangladesh, the site is designed to help humanitarian organisations and media communicate more effectively with people affected by emergencies.

The site demonstrates that media can enhance knowledge, support psychological wellbeing, connect people, prompt discussion, and motivate people to act – all of which are vital for people coping in emergencies.

People in crisis expect the media to be engaging, to give ordinary people a voice, hold responders to account, be easy to access, have localised information, and be trustworthy. The site also highlights challenges, including the difficulties of providing accurate and up-to-date local information in volatile and complex situations.

The content is based on results from BBC Media Action’s Lifeline programming, which has been used in crises around the world.

Lifeline programmes share information which audiences can use to stay safe and healthy, and keep them connected to humanitarian agencies, authorities and their own communities during a response, including during the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone, following the Nepal earthquakes of 2015, and now with the Rohingya people in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar.

Lisa Robinson, BBC Media Action senior advisor on Resilience and Humanitarian Response, said:

The site is packed with clips of insight from humanitarian media professionals reflecting on how they made programming, what has worked and what they have learned. BBC Media Action has been responding to humanitarian emergencies for years.  This site shares research from those responses to contribute to the global evidence base, and allows other agencies to measure their work and contribute through the research framework provided. Through this site, we hope to reflect and improve on how media and communication provides effective and essential aid in a crisis, and increase accountability across the sector.”

To visit the site, please see: commisaid.bbcmediaaction.org