'There’s no media for refugees': Information and communication in camps on the Thai-Burma border
Keywords:
alternative media, Burma, communication with communities (CwC), community media, ethnic media, humanitarian, human rights, Karen, protection, refugee camps, refugees, Thailand
Abstract
This article uses the example of camps on the Thai-Burma border to highlight the exclusion of refugees from the common world and subsequent omission of their voices from news coverage. Moreover, the article argues that this exclusion weakens the supposed protection offered to refugees by impeding the media in its role as protector and promoter of human rights. While there has been considerable literature examining the reporting of humanitarian crises to a global audience, in contrast there has been little in the way of research—and practice—concerning strategies to effectively communicate with refugees affected by such crises. Fieldwork conducted in three of nine official Thai-Burma border camps involved interviews with 81 participants, including refugees, humanitarian practitioners and journalists. Participant accounts show that a range of factors inhibit the production of news media coverage relevant to refugees interned in the Thai-Burma border camps, thereby preventing refugees from accessing vital information and voicing in common public space their experiences of violence, corruption and discrimination. A handful of exiled media groups provide poorly funded exceptions.
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References
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Dahlgren, P. (2009). Media and political engagement: Citizens, communication and democracy. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Dawes, J. (2007). That the world may know. Cambridge, MS: Harvard University Press.
Geras, N. (1998). The contract of mutual indifference. New York, NY: Verso.
Glazebrook, D. (2004). ‘If I stay here there is nothing yet if I return I do not know whether I will be safe’: West Papuan refugee responses to Papua New Guinea asylum policy 1998-2003, Journal of Refugee Studies, 17(2), 205-221. doi:10.1093/jrs/17.2.205
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Harrell-Bond, B. and Voutira, E. (2007). In search of ‘invisible’ actors: Barriers to access in refugee research, Journal of Refugee Studies, 20(2), 281-298. doi:10.1093/jrs/fem015
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Mandel, J., & Sommerfeldt, E. (2012). Closing the loop—responding to people’s
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post-earthquake Haiti. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from
www.internews.org/sites/default/files/resources/Haiti_ClosingTheLoop_2012-
05-screen.pdf
McConnachie, K. (2014). Governing refugees: Justice, order and legal pluralism, Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Mhagama, P. (2015). Expanding access and participation through a combination of community radio and mobile phones: The experience of Malawi. Journal of African Media Studies, 7(3), 267-280. doi: 10.1386/jams.7.3.267_1
Parekh, S. (2014), Beyond the ethics of admission: Stateless people, refugee camps and moral obligations, Philosophy and Social Criticism, 40(7), 645-663. doi:10.1177/0191453713498254
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Powers, M. (2014). The structural organisation of NGO publicity work: Explaining divergent publicity strategies at humanitarian and human rights organisations. International Journal of Communication, 8, 90-107. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from http://ijoc.org/
Quintanilla, J., Sicotte-Levesque, A., Hettiarachchi, M., Nuri, R., Ahrens, H., Dbouk, S., … Wall, I. (2014). Understanding the information and communication needs among IDPs in Northern Iraq. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.internews.org/research-publications/understanding-information-and-communication-needs-among-idps-northern-iraq
Saltsman, A. (2010). Rumour versus information, Forced Migration Review, 36, 57-58. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.fmreview.org
Saltsman, A. (2011). Displaced Iraqis in Jordan: Formal and informal information flows, and migratory decisions in a context of uncertainty, Refuge, 28(1), 81-96. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from http://refuge.journals.yorku.ca
Schutz, A. (1962). Concept and theory formation in the social sciences. In M. Natanson (Ed.), Collected papers I: The problem of social reality. The Hague, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.
Sommerfeldt, E. J. (2015). Disasters and information source repertoires: Information seeking and information sufficiency in post-earthquake Haiti. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 43(1), 1-22. doi:10.1080/00909882.2014.982682
Srinivasan, S. & Lopes, C. A. (2016). Africa’s voices versus big data? The value of citizen engagement through interactive radio. In O. Hemer and T. Tufte (Eds.), Communication, development and the cultural return. Gothenburg, Sweden: Nordicom.
Tacchi, J. (2012). Open content creation: The issues of voice and the challenges of listening. New Media and Society, 14(4), 652-668. doi:10.1177/1461444811422431
Turner, S. (2004). Under the gaze of the ‘big nations’: Refugees, rumours and the international community in Tanzania. African Affairs, 103(411), 227-247. doi: 10.1093/afraf/adh006
United Nations. (2015). Restoring humanity: Synthesis of the consultation process for the World Humanitarian Summit. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from
www.worldhumanitariansummit.org/whs_global/synthesisreport/
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (1998). Review of UNHCR mass information activities. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.unhcr.org/3ae6bd3f4.html
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2006). Operational protection in camps and settlements: A reference guide of good practices in the protection of refugees and other persons of concern. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.unhcr.org/448d6c122.html
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2011). UNHCR Resettlement Handbook (Rev. ed). Retrieved from April 16, 2016, from www.unhcr.org/46f7c0ee2.html
Verdirame, G. and Harrell-Bond, B. E. (2005). Rights in exile: Janus-faced humanitarianism, New York, NY: Berghahn Books.
Watkins, P. G. (2012). ‘Everybody suffers’: Karen refugee women’s experiences and conceptualisations of wellbeing and distress. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
West, A. R. and Wambugu, L. W. (2003). Left to their own devices: The impact of informal information and communication networks on security in the Tanzanian refugee camps. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.article19.org/data/files/pdfs/publications/refugees-left-to-their-own-devices.pdf
Agier, M. (2011). Managing the undesirables, Cambridge, UK: Polity.
Alvesson, M. & Sköldberg, K. (2009). Reflexive methodology: New vistas for qualitative research (2nd ed.). London, UK: Sage.
Atton, C. and Hamilton, J. F. (2008). Alternative journalism, London, UK: Sage.
Bob, C. (2005). The marketing of rebellion: Insurgents, media, and international activism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
The Border Consortium. (2015). Programme report: January – June 2015. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.theborderconsortium.org/media/62531/2015-6-mth-rpt-Jan-Jun.pdf
Clark, A. (2001). Diplomacy of conscience, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Cohen, S. (2001). States of denial. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
Committee for the Coordination of Services to Displaced Persons in Thailand. (n.d.). Terms of reference: Information-sharing centres. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.ccsdpt.org/information-sharing/
Dahlgren, P. (2009). Media and political engagement: Citizens, communication and democracy. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Dawes, J. (2007). That the world may know. Cambridge, MS: Harvard University Press.
Geras, N. (1998). The contract of mutual indifference. New York, NY: Verso.
Glazebrook, D. (2004). ‘If I stay here there is nothing yet if I return I do not know whether I will be safe’: West Papuan refugee responses to Papua New Guinea asylum policy 1998-2003, Journal of Refugee Studies, 17(2), 205-221. doi:10.1093/jrs/17.2.205
Harrell-Bond, B. E. (2002). Can humanitarian work with refugees be humane? Human Rights Quarterly, 24(1), 51-85. doi:10.1353/hrq.2002.0011
Harrell-Bond, B. and Voutira, E. (2007). In search of ‘invisible’ actors: Barriers to access in refugee research, Journal of Refugee Studies, 20(2), 281-298. doi:10.1093/jrs/fem015
Hennink, M. M. (2008). Language and communication in cross-cultural qualitative research. In P. Liamputtong (Ed.), Doing cross-cultural research: Ethical and methodological perspectives (pp. 21–34). Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from http://eblib.com.au
Holzer, E. (2010). I am only looking up to God: Protest, repression and homecoming in a West African refugee camp. Unpublished octoral dissertation. Proquest Dissertations and Theses A&I (UMI No. 821684473).
Holzer, E. (2012). A case study of political failure in a refugee camp, Journal of Refugee Studies, 25(2), 257-281. doi:10.1093/jrs/fes006
Ho, A. and Pavlish, C. (2011). Indivisibility of accountability and empowerment in tackling gender-based violence: Lessons from a refugee camp in Rwanda. Journal of Refugee Studies, 24(1), 88-109. doi:10.1093/jrs/feq052
Human Rights Watch (2012). Ad hoc and inadequate: Thailand’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/thailand0912.pdf
Internews (2014). Information in the midst of crisis: Addressing the information needs of internally displaced persons at the Tong Ping Protection of Civilians Site, Juba, South Sudan. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from https://internews.org/our-stories/project-updates/boda-boda-talk-talk
Kivikuru, U. (2013). Upstairs downstairs: Communication contradictions around two African refugee camps, Journal of African Media Studies, 5(1), 35–51. doi:10.1386/jams.5.1.35_1
Liamputtong, P. (2008). Doing research in a cross-cultural context: Methodological and ethical challenges. In P. Liamputtong (Ed.), Doing cross-cultural research: Ethical and methodological perspectives (pp. 3-20). Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from http://www.eblib.com.au
Mandel, J., & Sommerfeldt, E. (2012). Closing the loop—responding to people’s
information needs from crisis response to recovery to development: A case study of
post-earthquake Haiti. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from
www.internews.org/sites/default/files/resources/Haiti_ClosingTheLoop_2012-
05-screen.pdf
McConnachie, K. (2014). Governing refugees: Justice, order and legal pluralism, Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Mhagama, P. (2015). Expanding access and participation through a combination of community radio and mobile phones: The experience of Malawi. Journal of African Media Studies, 7(3), 267-280. doi: 10.1386/jams.7.3.267_1
Parekh, S. (2014), Beyond the ethics of admission: Stateless people, refugee camps and moral obligations, Philosophy and Social Criticism, 40(7), 645-663. doi:10.1177/0191453713498254
Poe Kwa Lay (2012, November 12). Two Mae La camp refugees shot and killed. Karen News. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from http://karennews.org/2012/11/two-mae-la-camp-refugees-shot-and-killed.html/
Powers, M. (2014). The structural organisation of NGO publicity work: Explaining divergent publicity strategies at humanitarian and human rights organisations. International Journal of Communication, 8, 90-107. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from http://ijoc.org/
Quintanilla, J., Sicotte-Levesque, A., Hettiarachchi, M., Nuri, R., Ahrens, H., Dbouk, S., … Wall, I. (2014). Understanding the information and communication needs among IDPs in Northern Iraq. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.internews.org/research-publications/understanding-information-and-communication-needs-among-idps-northern-iraq
Saltsman, A. (2010). Rumour versus information, Forced Migration Review, 36, 57-58. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.fmreview.org
Saltsman, A. (2011). Displaced Iraqis in Jordan: Formal and informal information flows, and migratory decisions in a context of uncertainty, Refuge, 28(1), 81-96. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from http://refuge.journals.yorku.ca
Schutz, A. (1962). Concept and theory formation in the social sciences. In M. Natanson (Ed.), Collected papers I: The problem of social reality. The Hague, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.
Sommerfeldt, E. J. (2015). Disasters and information source repertoires: Information seeking and information sufficiency in post-earthquake Haiti. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 43(1), 1-22. doi:10.1080/00909882.2014.982682
Srinivasan, S. & Lopes, C. A. (2016). Africa’s voices versus big data? The value of citizen engagement through interactive radio. In O. Hemer and T. Tufte (Eds.), Communication, development and the cultural return. Gothenburg, Sweden: Nordicom.
Tacchi, J. (2012). Open content creation: The issues of voice and the challenges of listening. New Media and Society, 14(4), 652-668. doi:10.1177/1461444811422431
Turner, S. (2004). Under the gaze of the ‘big nations’: Refugees, rumours and the international community in Tanzania. African Affairs, 103(411), 227-247. doi: 10.1093/afraf/adh006
United Nations. (2015). Restoring humanity: Synthesis of the consultation process for the World Humanitarian Summit. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from
www.worldhumanitariansummit.org/whs_global/synthesisreport/
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (1998). Review of UNHCR mass information activities. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.unhcr.org/3ae6bd3f4.html
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2006). Operational protection in camps and settlements: A reference guide of good practices in the protection of refugees and other persons of concern. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.unhcr.org/448d6c122.html
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (2011). UNHCR Resettlement Handbook (Rev. ed). Retrieved from April 16, 2016, from www.unhcr.org/46f7c0ee2.html
Verdirame, G. and Harrell-Bond, B. E. (2005). Rights in exile: Janus-faced humanitarianism, New York, NY: Berghahn Books.
Watkins, P. G. (2012). ‘Everybody suffers’: Karen refugee women’s experiences and conceptualisations of wellbeing and distress. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
West, A. R. and Wambugu, L. W. (2003). Left to their own devices: The impact of informal information and communication networks on security in the Tanzanian refugee camps. Retrieved on April 16, 2016, from www.article19.org/data/files/pdfs/publications/refugees-left-to-their-own-devices.pdf
Published
17-10-2017
How to Cite
Jack, V. (2017). ’There’s no media for refugees’: Information and communication in camps on the Thai-Burma border. Pacific Journalism Review : Te Koakoa, 23(2), 127-143. https://doi.org/10.24135/pjr.v23i2.93
Section
Articles (Unthemed)
Copyright (c) 2017 Victoria Jack
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
