Disaster giving influenced by media, research shows

Australian's generosity to overseas disasters is influenced by the extent of media coverage, Deakin University research has found.

Research by Dr Matthew Clarke from the University's Faculty of Arts and Education and Dr Simon Feeny, a Research Fellow at RMIT University and published in the Australian Economic Review sheds new light on what determines Australians' generosity.

The research looked at what made the Australian public respond to a number of different public appeals for emergencies and natural disasters in recent years.

"We found that the Australian public's generosity is influenced by the number of people affected, the extent of media coverage of the emergency or disaster and, interestingly, the extent of political and civil freedom in the affected country," Dr Clarke said.

"People also favoured emergencies and disasters that occurred in poorer and larger countries. Public donations are also higher when disasters occur in countries that respect democratic principles."

Dr Clarke said there was little evidence to support aid agencies' fears of donor fatigue.

"The type and location of disasters or emergencies didn't appear to affect public response to appeals," he said.

"Also the level of donations appears not to be affected by the interval between public appeals, providing some evidence that Australians don't suffer from 'donor fatigue'. This is important given the rise in the numbers of reported emergencies and natural disasters during the last 10 years."

Dr Clarke said the findings had implications for aid agencies and the media.

"In just the last few months, major disasters covered by the Australian media have included earthquakes in Indonesia and Peru, a tsunami in the Solomon Islands and extreme flooding in China and South-East Asia," he said. "Most developing countries simply don't have the resources to cope with the impacts of natural disasters. They are therefore reliant on rich country governments and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to help.

"Australians are very generous people. We are generally among the largest donors on a per capita basis and the overwhelming response to the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 is evidence of this generosity.

"However, there is considerable variation in the public's responses to emergencies and disasters. For example, World Vision Australia was able to raise over $100 million for the Indian Ocean tsunami in the first few months of 2005 alone. This disaster killed an estimated 300,000 people and displaced one million more. Yet, a few months later it was only able to raise $30,000 for a famine in Niger which affected 3.6 million people with an estimated 10 per cent dying from starvation.

"We all remember the graphic pictures of the tsunami, but do any of us remember seeing or reading anything about the starving in Niger? Aid agencies should continue working closely with the media in reporting disasters and emergencies overseas and the media should understand their potential influence on Australians' generosity.''