The CNN effect leaves Beledweyne to his fate

Flooded street in Beledweyne in Somalia.

The severe floods in Beledweyne, Somalia, have affected up to 500 people. Photo: Tobin Jones / AMISOM

Of: Nagaad Kadir Abdimaxmud

There are numerous civil wars, revolutions and natural disasters around the world. Many of these events have received media attention. What happens to the disasters that go unnoticed? Are those people left to their own fate? It is often said that media reporting is affected by the CNN effect. Nicklas Håkansson who researches political communication and journalism at the University of Gothenburg […]

Read more »

December 5, 2019, Chronicle

We want to give you knowledge and perspective about the world

Smog in Cairo.

Although sustainable cities are crucial to the planet's survival, it is rarely discussed in the media or politics. Here's smog over Cairo. Photo: Sebastian Horndasch, CC BY 2.0

Of: Kerstin Edquist

How do we really portray the world? This is an issue that FUF's editorial staff has struggled with many times. What prejudices do we have? What colonial heritage do we carry with us when we write? In which parts of the world are our major knowledge gaps? And what stereotypes do we create about different people and countries? To turn and rotate […]

Read more »

November 1, 2018, Leader

The book fair: The workers' perspective is absent in the foreign service

Of: My Ahlkvist

Book Fair, Thursday. The Swedish Exhibition Center is already teeming at 11 o'clock with coffee-loving journalists and cultural aunts dressed in Gudrun Sjödén. On the second floor is Globala Torget, where development issues are in focus. The newspaper Arbetet Global, formerly LO newspaper, organizes after lunch a seminar on workers' presence in the foreign service, after having released a report on the same topic during the morning. […]

Read more »

September 28, 2018, Chronicle

Dare to celebrate success!

Of: Robert Höglund

The proportion of people in the world living in extreme poverty has more than halved in the last 20 years, but success does not seem to be stuck in the public consciousness. An excessively negative perception of the world situation leads to hopelessness. Therefore, we must increase knowledge about and rejoice in what gets better, writes Robert Höglund, communications manager at Oxfam Sweden.

September 29, 2016, Debate

The hidden racism in the media must end

Of: Stone stream

Media's selective news reporting leads to a low level of knowledge about external issues and to increased racism. How big can the difference in media reporting based on the "proximity principle" be before it becomes unreasonable, if not grotesque? This is the question of Sten Ström, former auditor at the development agency Sida and consultant in development issues and poverty reduction.

August 16, 2016, Debate

Come and review the cut in aid

Of: Nils Traveller

International aid is facing the biggest cut in modern times. The money that today goes to education and health care can soon be eaten up by expensive peacekeeping efforts. To find out what the consequences will be, Blank Spot Project today launches an open review of development assistance, writes journalist Nils Resare.

December 16, 2015, Debate

Sweden needs a new investigative foreign journalism

Of: Nils Traveller

Swedish foreign journalism has been dismantled in recent years. The articles are becoming shorter, the reviews fewer and the foreign newsrooms are increasingly relying on material from foreign news agencies. Not even the great Swedish development assistance is today significantly examined by journalists. That is why we are now starting the Blank Spot Project to monitor the world's white spots, writes journalist Nils Resare.

February 25, 2015, Debate

We facilitate review of development assistance

Of: Joachim Beijmo

The reformulated assignment for OmVärlden does not prevent the Sida-funded newspaper from reviewing the development assistance. However, it must primarily be the task of other newsrooms to review the development assistance, as OmVärlden can never be perceived as completely independent as long as Sida owns the brand. It writes Sida's communications manager Joachim Beijmo

December 16, 2014, Debate