Dialogue is destiny: managing the message in humanitarian action.

During humanitarian response efforts, the mass media serves as the primary informational intermediary informing donors, policy makers, and the non-affected public. A lack of professional standards within the current culture of journalism, the politics of media ownership, and media manipulation by governments has distorted reporting on humanitarian crises, with possible detrimental effects on response efforts. Humanitarian response organizations must assume a proactive, leading role in the management and sharing of information with each other as well as with donors, policy makers, and the public. This will require working with the media as partners, as well as exploring innovative methods of mass communication. A multi-stakeholder, cooperative communication initiative could help improve media involvement, and harness the media as a credible and knowledgeable communication tool for response efforts. A professional publication dedicated to the discipline of humanitarian relief also could optimize efforts, communicate the perspectives of beneficiaries, and manage the underutilized resource of the general public.