Press action medeor

In the foyer of the aid organization in Tönisvorst from Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 3:30 pm and on Fridays from 9 am to 12:30 pm, visitors can get an idea of the media coverage of these topics. The exhibition runs until June 30 and admission is free.

“Many humanitarian crises are not even mentioned in the media,” Stephanie Wickerath explains, who is in charge of the exhibition at action medeor. “The Global South is neglected by many media outlets and reporting is often very unbalanced geographically,” she adds. As a result, problems, crises and disasters are often overlooked. “Even famines, the biggest solvable problem in the world according to the United Nations, are neglected by the media,” Wickerath says.

The current exhibition “Forgotten worlds and blind spots” shows the role played by the war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic. It presents the most important results of a long-term study that examined the reporting of various leading German media. The study was initiated by German studies professor Dr. Ladislaus Ludescher from the University of Heidelberg.

“The exhibition also makes it clear how media discourse circles work,” Stephanie Wickerath says. Certain events displace others. If a leading medium reports on a topic, others join in. “Everyone jumps on the news bandwagon and other topics fall behind,” Wickerath summarizes. “In the end, the people who lack an audible voice in the media are the very people who actually need it most.”

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