Page 98 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

84 Politics in a Small World

coverage of humanitarian crises as falling into three types. Crises may
be covered as an “ adventure, ” as a series of random and isolated events,

briefly described in factual terms, in ways that make no attempt to
demonstrate sufferers ’ agency, and which restrict spectators ’ sense of
proximity with those suffering to representations of their physical plight.
Coverage of crises as “ adventure, ” she argues, fails to make any ethical
demand on spectators to respond to the suffering they report. It gener-
ally involves people in countries far away, where the events have no
obvious consequences for people in the West. Localized fl ooding or
earthquakes in places outside the West, for example, are generally
covered as “ adventure. ” Second, humanitarian crises may be covered in
terms of “ emergencies, ” which shrink the distance between spectator and
sufferer, and to which the appropriate response is pity and some kind
of action. Long - term and complicated situations in most parts of the
world are not reported as “ emergencies ” unless they become relevant to
the West or become sensational in some other way. Third, humanitarian
crises may be represented as “ ecstatic. ” This involves live coverage,
which often interrupts other programming, and creates a close sense of

identification between the spectator and those suffering. The example of
such coverage Chouliaraki analyses is that of the events of 9/11.
Chouliaraki argues that, rather than opening up the imaginary of a
global political community, portrayal of the suffering of those far away
actually only registers in the West insofar as it involves sensations the
Western media already cultivates: it is only insofar as the other is in
some obvious way “ like us ” that they are eligible to become a spectacle
of suffering with which we can identify and to which we must respond
with words and action (Chouliaraki, 2006 : 209 – 11).
Demands for action “ from below ” to address the suffering we may see
routinely on TV – until we turn over – are rare. They predominantly
involve demands for charity, to respond to emergencies like famine or

flooding. Very occasionally, as in the Make Poverty History campaign,
there are demands for global justice, but this requires social movement
organization as well as media coverage, and a mixture of entertainment,
celebrities, education, and audience involvement (Nash, 2008 ). Moreover,
even when such campaigns do gain momentum, representations of the
strangers in need are very often patronizing, celebrating “ our ” generosity:
“ we ” are the world and they are no more than the grateful recipients of
our help, passively poor and needy. Such responses prevail despite global
interconnectedness: “ our ” Western governments are very often implicated
in creating the conditions of humanitarian emergencies in the fi rst place.
Representations of Westerners as helping, never as involved in creating