New media mantras

The UN +5 OCHA Symposium was another instance where the power of new media (Web 2.0, blogs, podcasts, vodcasts, wikis, SMSs and that sort of thing) was repeatedly touted as an innovation that would change the face of humanitarian response as we know it. The heady optimism of a revolution in humanitarian affairs using mobile … Continue reading New media mantras →

FEMA and a lesson in crisis communications. Not.

A tragi-comic Reuters story is yet another example of the indubitable idiocy and sheer ineptitude of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. government's main disaster-response agency.The U.S. government's main disaster-response agency apologized on Friday for having its employees pose as reporters in a hastily called news conference on California's wildfires that no news … Continue reading FEMA and a lesson in crisis communications. Not. →