Germany's Humanitarian Aid and Media Reporting on Natural Catastrophes. An Investigation of the Relationship between Issue Salience and the Provision of Humanitarian Aid at the Beginning of the 21st Century

The Federal Republic of Germany is one of the leading donors of both humanitarian and development assistance worldwide and the single most important contributor to the European Commission’s humanitarian aid budget. This paper investigates the relationship between the extent of the presence of the issue of humanitarian aid in Germany’s media reporting and the provision of humanitarian aid to disaster-stricken countries by the German federal government. The empirical findings show that, while the number of fatalities recorded on a selected crisis and the number of articles published on such a crisis are the most significant variables affecting the disbursement of emergency financial assistance, no clear cut positive correlation between an increase in issue salience and an increase in Germany’s provision of humanitarian aid can necessarily be observed.

Garavoglia, M. (2011). Germany’s Humanitarian Aid and Media Reporting on Natural Catastrophes. An Investigation of the Relationship between Issue Salience and the Provision of Humanitarian Aid at the Beginning of the 21st Century. IFHV Working Paper, 1(2).