Beatrice Groth

The Non Governmental Organization, NGO is commonly known as the charity sector. From local to international levels, they are responsible for caring for the needy, and less privileged in our societies. Also in the culture of support, are the “Greenpeace”, “Friends of the Earth” who care for our environments. (Arena, D., Lazono, J. M. And Albareda, L. 2009) cited in Baur, D. (2011, p. 4) NGOs as Legitimate Partner of Corporation; argued that, ‘the strong normative focus also becomes evident in the self perception of NGOs as agents of social transformation – and – in general NGOs focus on issues that they think deserve advocacy.’

However, the roles of the NGO in news gathering for the media could sound awkward, knowing what charity organizations are originally meant for. But some NGOs, like the Redcross and UNICEF to mention but a few, have quicker and perhaps easier access to disaster and war areas, where journalists may not reach.  According to Henry Makiwa, Senior Media relations Officer, for the British Red Cross, who moved from journalism to public relations, at his recent visit to the University of East London (UEL), gave an insight on how financial upheavals decades ago, forced journalists to loose their jobs. Since then, some media organizations depended more on the NGOs press officers for news stories. 

Thereafter, he advised students of journalism to specialize in subjects of interest; in film, video, photography or news writing, resisting the tendencies of being “jack of all trades and masters of none”, to enable easier access to employment elsewhere.  Makiwa continued, ‘NGOs are key to societal shared values.’ some charities are inclined to religious support, but the Redcross is funded by the public and it a non-religious organization.

Finally, it was interesting to learn that the charitable organizations are possible avenues for employment for journalists. At a time of joblessness within the media industries, some students were getting jittery, about what to do after graduation, but Henry Makiwa succeeded in lighting a candle in what seemed like a journey in the dark tunnel.