Media and politics 2017

1. Media and Politics 2017
Quiz
3.3. Compassion & Solidarity

2. 1. What is compassion and "compassion
fatigue"?

3. Compassion is empathy with the suffering of
fellow human beings. It is the ability to put
yourself in their shoes and feel their pain.
The “Compassion fatigue”-hypothesis refers to
the possibility that being a spectator to
constant events of overwhelming suffering
reduces the capability for compassion.

4. 2. How do news values put some disasters and
other events of suffering on top of the
mainstream news agenda, while others are
kept off the radar, according to Hoskins &
O’Loughlin?

5. •The most important factor is probably that the
event has to perceived as relevant and fit easily into
well known frames.
•Involvement of persons with a common nationality
or ethnicity – including celebrities.
•Vital geopolitical or other interests in the area.
•Access to information
•Easy to construct a story using familiar frames that
makes it recognizable.
•Demand for sensation means that it should happen
suddenly and not last too long.

6. 3. Tell about the difference
between an “ordinary” and an
“ideal” spectator?

7. An “ordinary” spectator watches or “gazes at”
suffering more out of curiosity or being drawn
to a spectacle.
The “ideal” spectator represents the spectator
as a public citizen, with reactions which are
“appropriate” according to norms of
compassion and taking action to help the
suffering.

8. 4. What is a “benefactor” and a “persecutor” -
and their relation to three different modes of
spectatorship?

9. Both are agents; people with capacity to act. The
persecutor acts to cause harm and the benefactor
acts to relieve the harm caused. The modes are:
• Denunciation: Feel powerless, little focus on the
victim, but anger against alleged persecutor.
• Sentiment: Not focused on a persecutor, but
gratitude towards benefactors who try to help.
• Aesthetic: Focus on neither benefactors nor
persecutors (“gazing”)

10. 5. What are the three types of news about
disasters and suffering identified by
Chouliaraki?

11. • Adventure news: Short “bites” showing disasters from a
distance, without individual destinies or attempts of storytelling.
Tend not to engage spectators. Closely associated with
“compassion fatigue”.
• Ecstatic news: Covering spectacular disasters as they happen,
often unexplainable or getting close to the suffering individual.
Shock or awe engage curious spectators, wondering whether
people from their own communities are harmed and whether
they can be helped.
• Emergency news: Try to explain cause of suffering and possible
solutions to end it. Focus on suffering individuals, creating
empathy for the unlucky as human beings worthy of our
compassion. Identification of cause and possible solutions to
end the suffering may trigger action to help.

12. 6. Explain “the CNN effect” and its particular
relation to Western intervention

13. It represents a belief that after the end of the “cold
war”, the media were relieved from pressures of
national security and ideology and new media
technology provided 24/7 coverage of events, such as
wars and other types of major crises.
Due to this new situation, the media could affect
foreign policy, frequently beyond traditional
considerations of “national interest”. For instance,
press Western governments into humanitarian
interventions.

14. 7. Why would realists be sceptical to the “CNN
effect”?

15. A normative form of scepticism would be that foreign
policy should be calculated rationally by experts, to
maximize national interest. Hence; a foreign policy
based on emotions and humanitarian considerations
in the media and mass opinion would be dangerous.
An empirical form of scepticism would be that states
still tend to pursue national interests in their foreign
policy. At best; “humanitarian interventions” will be a
cover for national interests.

16. 8. What are the differences between “new
wars” and “traditional” interstate- or civil
wars?

17. Traditional wars occurred between states, with
a clear start and ending, or as civil wars
between different groups competing for state
power, contained within the borders of a given
state.
New wars cross state borders, frequently
involving diasporas, and are more unclear
regarding goals, start and ending.

18. 9. Mention some of the dilemmas Western
media workers face when engaging in
“cosmopolitan witnessing” at home or
abroad?

19. • “The white man’s burden”/”the white
saviour complex” as Western intervention in
ex-colonies
• Symbiotic: The tempation of sensational
news vs. providing PR fighters
• Diffused war: Engagement may result in
unintended consequences when reaching
unintended audiences and also affect public
diplomacy.

20. 10. Why is science fiction referred to as
“global imaginaries” in Saunders’ article?
Also give some examples.

21. By being (apparently) far removed from the present
in time and space, they invite us to imagine
international relations from new perspectives.
By letting us identify with “the other”, rather than
“us”, or vividly revealing alternative (otherwise
“unimaginable”) solutions to present day problems or
what might happen if we do not engage.
Examples might be Avatar, Star Wars, District 9, The
Day after Tomorrow.