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

IRIN Mandate continued...

75. Because of its knowledge, outreach, in-depth coverage, an editorial policy based on rigorous guidelines and editorial standards, and a carefully monitored system of oversight, donors felt that IRIN demonstrated high performance in the fulfilling of its mandate, especially in emergency response, monitoring and updates. A USAid spokesperson observed that 'it's nice to know that IRIN is identifying what is important for emergency response. [IRIN's] monitoring of the events in Northern Uganda is helpful and necessary, especially when things begin to heat up'. IRIN's follow-up on events is particularly important to monitoring when the mission is small, as in the case of the Australian High Commission in Nairobi, where IRIN is often the major source of information on regional humanitarian issues, and is viewed by the staff as' extremely useful [in supporting] monitoring of several countries'. All missions admitted their dependency on IRIN to keep them updated and generally alerted as to changing situations. Since IRIN information is shared with other offices or republished, the potential influence of IRIN on decision-making grows exponentially.

    Technology is no substitute for good people Jakkie Cilliers, Executive Director, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria

76. Academics who rated IRIN performance high on mandate focussed on IRIN's
    • successful coverage of far-flung places
    • support for research
    • monitoring and early warning of conflict
    • case studies for students; and the quality of IRIN staff.

    IRIN is a model of the fact that it is possible to have quality information on human suffering Hugo Slim, Director, Complex Emergency Programme, Oxford Brookes University

77. Ross Herbert, Senior Researcher, South African Institute of International Affairs remarked on IRIN's capacity to 'provide a useful heads up on new and changing humanitarian issues'. Commenting on IRIN staff, Jakkie Cilliers, Executive Director, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria makes two comments: 'IRIN has quality staff who provide an excellent market product' and 'the level of IRIN staff and expertise is high... the key for IRIN will be maintaining the high quality and integrity of its products and services'.
78. There was very little difference in the views of those who ranked IRIN high and medium. Only two respondents gave a low ranking. Those in the group giving it a medium ranking noted that IRIN gems were its 'in-depth analyses, for example, IDPs and the Sudan Peace Process'. Another view was that IRIN does well in supporting its mandate, but that its 'challenge is to continuously sustain a mandate that must shift its focus in line with the dynamic nature of humanitarian events, without overextending both staff and resources' To counter overextension of staff and resources, one senior UN official observed that 'IRIN needs to decide who its primary users are (the humanitarian community) and concentrate on serving their needs. Otherwise, there is a continual risk of overstretch'. By contrast, other UN and NGO subscribers were of the view that IRIN's products and services were clearly focused and directed towards the information needs of the humanitarian community, albeit they also voiced concerns about the potential for overstretch. As one NGO official observed: 'It seems that IRIN is constantly asked to do more without the necessary resources'.
79. Though some saw overstretch as a potential problem, others wanted more: An NGO voice from West Africa was keen to see IRIN undertake an even greater 'investment in research and analysis... on dedicated subjects'. Though this respondent admitted that such an undertaking would probably be costly, it would be 'worth considering' as its comparative advantage over all other providers of online news is that 'IRIN contributes directly to programme decision-making'. Additionally, some donors were of the view that IRIN needs to be more universally known: 'IRIN is easily accessible, but its existence is not universally known, even within the humanitarian community'. Concerned with IRIN's lack of profile with the media, another donor suggested that' IRIN needs to do more to introduce themselves to the traditional and local media in order to be profiled more widely'. These views were countered somewhat by those that believe IRIN does have a distinctive profile, especially in its outreach to local communities. Those who knew of IRIN's radio project expressed high hopes for this project, seeing it as a way to link local voices to development issues and hence future programming.
80. The evaluation team found that most often IRIN subscribers at senior levels do not themselves access IRIN. Nonetheless, they have a clear appreciation of its value in their work and the work of their colleagues including: savings in terms of time and research effort; personalized, easy access by e-mail; and in-depth coverage of events and humanitarian situations neglected by others. In addition, when asked what the loss of IRIN would mean: most comments were similar to that of one who said that 'though they would make use of other sources, it would be hard to replace IRIN because it is the only source that covers humanitarian issues not covered by others, from hard facts to the advocacy of humanitarian principles'.
81. Commenting on the view by some that IRIN takes on overtly political issues that are sometimes in conflict with the views of governments, donor and local, a donor noted that IRIN should avoid controversial issues, like GM foods, as it sends a message that IRIN is not balanced in its reporting. Another donor, observed that

    'IRIN takes on large issues... [It] is dangerous to support humanitarian crises without recognizing the political implications. Can IRIN help to analyze some of the political implications? Should it?'

82. By contrast, the majority of respondents observed that IRIN's role was indeed to address such issues and that it did so by clearly reporting all sides of an issue. In support of this view, a

    If IRIN weren't there, it would have to be created. Maxwell Gaylord, Resident Representative, UNDP, Nairobi

    field officer from UNHCHR, noted that 'The kind of reporting that IRIN does is excellent in supporting rights-based points of view without finger-pointing'. That IRIN continuously strives for accuracy and objectivity is clearly articulated in its editorial policy that is elaborated in its style guide.²²
83. Some respondents perceived some bias in the way that IRIN reported news from Somalia. This is probably inevitable since it is very difficult, if not impossible, to report about Somali events and actors in the conflict in an entirely neutral way. The very language used, the definitions of the different factions or administrations imply bias in one way or another. More coverage of the north, especially that part under the administration of the Somaliland administration in Hargeisa, would probably answer most of the criticism. Already, IRIN management has addressed the perception of bias on Somalia by widening their stringer base in Somalia who supply information to IRIN core writers and IRIN Radio. ²³ These actions should go some way to ensuring that the views and standpoint of those not taking part need also to be reflected if perceptions of bias are to be avoided.
84. As is noted elsewhere, most IRIN subscribers rate IRIN very highly on credibility. 89% in the e-survey gave it a score of 4 or 5 out of 5 on this quality, an outstanding rating. Similarly, the interviews, both media and humanitarian community, found IRIN 'completely credible' and 'independent' as it cites its sources and corroborates its facts. One officer in UNICEF's Situation Centre noted that he reviewed IRIN Africa dailies everyday for a year and found only one small error quickly rectified by IRIN. On the media side, the Editor of the BBC Somali service described IRIN's service on the Horn as 'indispensable'. Media Action International described IRIN's site on the Horn as 'one of the best'.

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