Comprehensive and interdisciplinary, this collection explores the complex, and often problematic, ways in which the news media shapes perceptions of poverty.
Editor Sandra L. Borden and a diverse collection of scholars and journalists question exactly how the news media can reinforce (or undermine) poverty and privilege. This book is divided into five parts that examine philosophical principles for reporting on poverty, the history and nature of poverty coverage, problematic representations of people experiencing poverty, poverty coverage as part of reporting on public policy and positive possibilities for poverty coverage. Each section provides an introduction to the topic, as well as a broad selection of essays illuminating key issues and a Q&A with a relevant journalist. Topics covered include news coverage of corporate philanthropy, structural bias in reporting, representations of the working poor, the moral demands of vulnerability and agency, community empowerment and citizen media. The book’s broad focus considers media and poverty at both the local and global levels with contributors from 16 countries.
This is an ideal reference for students and scholars of media, communication and journalism who are studying topics involving the media and social justice, as well as journalists, activists and policy makers working in these areas.
"Introduction: The Problem of Poverty in the News Media Part 1 Principles: Ethical Frameworks for Covering Poverty 1. Communitarian Ethics and Poverty Coverage 2. The Capability Approach and Media Coverage of Poverty 3. Extreme Poverty as Human Rights Violation: Moral Duties and Public Engagement in the Global North 4. Precarious Photojournalism: The Ethics and Aesthetics of the Unrepresentable 5. Shared Vulnerability as a Virtuous Framework for Poverty Coverage 6. Solidarity in U.S. Journalism: Social Justice Implications of How Journalists Humanize People Experiencing Homelessness 7. Social Empathy + Compassion: Building Blocks for Poverty Coverage 8. Reporting on the Margins But Not Marginalizing with Dustin Dwyer Part II Poverty: Socioeconomic Need and Its Causes in the News 9. A Very Poor Watchdog: How the Political Economy Continues to Define News Reporting of Poverty in the Digital Era 10. Framing Poverty: An Historical Overview of Ways of Seeing Poverty 11. The Social Construction of Poverty in India: Role of News Media 12. A History of Media Coverage of Poverty in the United States Since 1960 13. Ruin Porn and Virtue Porn: Licensing How We Talk About Perceptions of Urban Decay 14. Neoliberal Poverty Discourses in Canadian Newspapers 15. Coverage of Poverty in Business News: How Media Represent Public and Private Concern for People Living in Poverty 16. Living in a Material World: Celebrity Media Culture and Neoliberal Ideology in the Digital Age 17. Urban Inequality and Marginalization with Chris Michael Part III “Poor”: News Representations of People Experiencing Poverty 18. What about the Actors Involved in News about Poverty? Disrupting Determinist Accounts 19. The Picture of Poverty: Visual Images and Their Implications 20. Settler Colonial Representations of Indigenous Disadvantage 21. Media Representations of Structural Factors Contributing to Women’s Poverty 22. The Cultural Image of the Fat Poor in German News Media 23. Representations of the Working Poor 24. Representation, Poverty, and “Hillbilly Culture” in Appalachia 25. To Cover or Not to Cover? A Critical Discourse Analysis of Mainstream Media News Framing of Children in Kenyan Care Homes 26. Not Sending Their Best: Media Framings of Immigrants as the “Parasitic Poor"" 27. News at a Time of Economic Hardship with Judith Matloff Part IV Policy: Indirect Coverage of Poverty as Part of Watchdog Journalism 28. Keep Calm and Carry On: Challenging a Discourse of Necessity and Forbearance in News Reporting of UK “Austerity” Policies 29. Welfare in the Media: Issues of Coloniality and Symbolic Power in the Case of Metiria Turei 30. Contesting the Narrative of Rootless Others 31. Not Just for Christmas: News Media Coverage of Homelessness 32. Criminalization of Poverty: Fines, Fees, Money Bail, and Much More 33. From Community Empowerment to Infrastructure Reinforcement: Exploring the Shifting Media Narrative on Indigent Health Policy from Reagan to Obama 34. Housing Policy in the News: In Praise of Markets, Problematizing Residents in Poverty 35. What Lessons May Be Drawn from Media Reactions to a Universal Basic Income? 36. Water Access and Solutions Journalism with Jiquanda Johnson Part V Positives: Promising Practices for Better Poverty Coverage 37. Amplifying the Deliberative Agency of Indigenous Communities in Philippine News Media 38. Constructive Journalism and Poverty Reduction in China: The Targeted Poverty Alleviation Campaign 39. Citizen Media as a Counter-Narrative: Slum Journalism and the Kibera News Network 40. Refugees, Media Representation and Counter-Narrative: An Analysis of TedxKakumaCamp 41. “Filling the Void”? Engagement between the Nonprofit Sector and Journalists in the Production of News about Poverty 42. Longform Immersion: Situating Struggle as an In/Outsider 43. Expanding Journalism Students' Empathy by Writing about the Working Poor 44. Focused on Results, Building Trust with Monica Morales"
Sandra L. Borden (Ph.D., Indiana University) is a professor in the School of Communication at Western Michigan University (United States). She directs the university’s Center for the Study of Ethics in Society and coaches its Association for Practical and Professional Ethics Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl team. Her work has appeared in several scholarly books and journals, including the Journal of Media Ethics, Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism and Communication Theory. Her books are the award-winning Journalism as Practice: MacIntyre, Virtue Ethics and the Press (2007; 2009), Ethics and Entertainment: Essays on Media Culture and Media Morality (co-edited with Howard Good, 2010), Making Hard Choices in Journalism Ethics (with David Boeyink, 2010) and Ethics and Error in Medicine (co-edited with Fritz Allhoff, 2019).
