'Disaster year' 2005 prompts funding for crisis coverage

The Reuters' AlertNet site has been given funding by the UK government to extend its coverage of humanitarian crises and natural disasters.

The Department for International Development (DfID) is funding the MediaBridge service to help reporters covering events like the Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Kashmir earthquake.

MediaBridge was developed from the findings of a study conducted by the Columbia School of Journalism which found that humanitarian crises are often given a low priority because of insufficient press resources.

The service aims to provide key information to help journalists cover these events and promote coverage from a range of international sources.

Four dedicated staff will work on the project, producing statistical information, links to relevant web resources, contact information for specialist relief organisations and commentary on breaking media coverage.

"Journalists are telling us that they need help to cover more of the on-going and forgotten crises," said Mark Jones, editor of AlertNet.

"That help includes practical issues such as knowing which NGOs are active in particular regions, to background information that could help find new angles on a story and therefore make it more compelling to an editor."

MediaBridge will be free to use and launches fully in Summer 2006.

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