Bridging ethics: lessons for mainstream and humanitarian journalism in crisis reporting

As the world faces increasingly complex humanitarian crises, both mainstream and humanitarian journalism play a critical role in shaping public understanding and response. Yet the ethical challenges these fields encounter - balancing objectivity with empathy, reporting responsibly while hoping to impact the humanitarian response itself - are often tackled in silos. What can mainstream war and disaster journalism learn from the nuanced, impact-driven approaches to humanitarian journalism? And how can humanitarian journalists benefit from the storytelling expertise and reach of mainstream outlets?
This panel discussion will feature veteran war and crisis reporters to explore how their respective ethics and practices can inform each other's work in covering humanitarian crises more effectively, ethically, and empathically. Drawing on The New Humanitarian’s 30 years of experience in humanitarian journalism and its upcoming white paper that builds towards an ethical framework for humanitarian journalism as a nascent field, the session will examine:
> How to balance the traditional journalistic values of impartiality and detachment with the humanitarian imperative for empathy and action.
> The role of impact-driven journalism in shaping not just awareness, but outcomes in crisis response.
> How mainstream outlets can adopt practices that center affected communities.
By bringing together journalists from both ends of the spectrum, this panel conversation seeks to inspire new, collaborative ways of reporting on crises that are not only responsible but, possibly, also transformative.
Moderated by Patrick Gathara.
Organised in association with The New Humanitarian.