IRIN Evaluation Report - March 2003
by Graham Mytton & Sharon Rusu

Findings from media interviews

8. The findings from the media interviews are summarized below. They enlarge on and corroborate most of the above findings from the electronic survey.
   • Daily stories on Africa were the most used IRIN product. Users have a very high regard for the relevance, journalistic quality and usefulness of what they receive and for the coverage of remote and otherwise forgotten places and crises.
   • There was almost universal appreciation of IRIN's consistent humanitarian focus.
   • For some impoverished African media IRIN provides a free and valued news agency service.
   • But some local African domestic media make little use of IRIN, largely because it does not report the kind of news they seek.
   • IRIN is viewed as a very important source for Horn of Africa news by the leading broadcaster to the region.
   • There is no single view on what gaps there are at present, although several users wanted IRIN to extend coverage.
   • Low awareness of IRIN among non-users appears widespread. IRIN is still relatively new.
   • For many potential users in Africa, IRIN will continue to be unavailable until Internet and email access is extended
   • Some existing media users of IRIN are unaware that stories can be made available immediately rather than as part of a daily single time feed.
   • While nearly all media users believe IRIN to be completely credible, a few did question its independence and ask whether it has to continue to be within the UN system. But its independence from commercial or tabloid news pressures is seen as a major strength.
   
   

   Findings of Media and Humanitarian Community Interviews compared against Assessment Criteria³

   IRIN's Analytical Capability

9. From the perspective of both IRIN users in the media and humanitarians, by far the most important criterion among those by which we evaluated IRIN was its analytical capability. This encompasses almost everything the media look to IRIN for. Current users interviewed gave a high performance rating on this aspect, with few criticisms. Only those who used IRIN very little (mainly a few in the media) gave a low assessment. The humanitarians, on the other hand, were clearly of the view that IRIN demonstrated an excellent capacity for analysis. Backed by rigorous reporting and editorial standards, and a highly professional staff, IRIN's analytical capability was what humanitarians look most to IRIN for. In this regard, the evaluation found that IRIN had achieved a workable and effective balance between international staff and nationals. This balance was directly reflected by subscriber attestation as to IRIN's credibility and value-added as an in-depth and analytically sound source of humanitarian news.

   IRIN's Communications Strategy

10. Communications strategy was also seen as important, especially by those media involved in some form of advocacy for human rights and emergency relief. And in these cases, IRIN was generally commended. Some criticism was made of a perceived lack of timeliness. But this probably arises from the fact that some subscribers are unaware of different delivery formats and timings of the email service that can better meet their needs for timeliness. The humanitarian community, on the other hand, gave IRIN a high rating for focussing its reporting on humanitarian issues and monitoring long-term news stories often neglected by others. They had no issue with IRIN's frequency, and the majority found it timely. The humanitarian community further recognized IRIN's importance at the field level, specifically in that IRIN supports OCHA's capacity to effectively manage information for the purpose of humanitarian coordination. The evaluation found that IRIN directly supports UN OCHA to discharge its core function to 'manage information effectively' in support of the 'coordination of humanitarian emergency response'. Additional insights and corroboration of these findings have been gained through interviews with journalists and editors, the humanitarian community, and OCHA/IRIN senior management and staff.

    IRIN's Influence

11. Media users viewed influence as important. IRIN has extended outreach through the media and through the humanitarian community. This multiplier effect enhances greatly IRIN's scope, reputation and influence beyond both media and the humanitarian community into a global arena of respected informants and informed decision-makers. And many media users were appreciative of the uniqueness of IRIN content. For humanitarians, there was a clear link between IRIN's products and services and informed decision-making on the part of IRIN subscribers. The evaluation found that IRIN products do have a measurable influence on the discourses and behaviours of policymakers. And that IRIN does influence the decisions taken by humanitarians in their daily work, strategic planning and programme implementation and evaluation.

    IRIN and Cross Network Learning and Knowledge Transfer

12. As far as cross network learning and knowledge transfer were concerned, the dominant view of the media was that IRIN was a humanitarian news agency rather than a network, although IRIN's capacity to make linkages between different actors in humanitarian and emergency related stories was widely recognised. The humanitarians shared this view. At the same time, humanitarians recognized IRIN's usefulness as a tool for sensitizing and educating audiences through Web specials, PlusNews and IRIN radio. As testimony to IRIN's competence as a knowledge network, IRIN's coordinator, Pat Banks, has just been awarded the 2002 UN 21 Award in the area of knowledge management.

Continued?

Top of the Page?