Unfortunately, the need for crisis reporting abounds. However, for a variety of reasons, many journalists can be no more than spectators, with little opportunity to develop substantial insights into what is really happening. Civil society organisations (CSOs) are increasingly recognising this attention gap and ramping up their own communication efforts, which are often leveraging deep, first-hand knowledge. But can they be trusted? How can CSOs work to gain and keep credibility as independent sources rather than just another party with vested interests? And may activism and journalism ever join forces in the first place?