In the first and second week, I talked about the bias related to gender and racial issues in media coverage. We need to be aware of the racial bias in media coverage, and also be conscious of gender inequality in the field of media, which are two important aspects related to bias in media coverage. In my opinion, we should have a profound understanding of different marginalized groups in this society when it comes to bias and objectivity of news stories. Poor journalism usually reinforces the stereotype of marginalized groups and makes the situations of underprivileged people worse.
In the third week, I am going to focus on the bias of poor people in media coverage.
In the first place, we still need to discuss the scant reporting related to poverty. Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, a progressive media watchdog group, conduct research on eight news outlet, including CBS Evening News, ABC World News, NBC Nightly News, PBS NewsHour, NPR’s All Things Considered, the print editions of the New York Times, Washington Post and Newsweek.
According to the research during the 2012 election, there are not many campaign stories related to poverty. ABC World News, NBC Nightly News, NPR’s All Things Considered and Newsweek even had no campaign stories substantively discussing poverty issues.
Besides the lack of stories covering poverty, poor people are usually described as lazy people and welfare fraud in news coverage, which makes lives worse for poor people. Without thorough research on the sources in poverty, it is likely that news organizations come up with irresponsible coverage, with exaggeration description on poor people’s defects of character. The misconception will justify the public’s dislike of the poor.
What’s more, journalists tend to make a connection between certain races with poverty. According to a study conducted by Travis Dixon, a professor of communication at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, black families represent 59% of the poor in media but make up only 27% of the poor. In terms of poverty, black Americans are usually overrepresented by news stories, while white people are underrepresented.
At last, I want to talk about this issue from my own experience. I once covered a story related to a new project by the Columbia Housing Authority. I had a chance to go to interview people assisted by the housing program of the housing authority. They make low incomes. But that does not mean that they are lazy. After talking with them, I have a greater understanding of their situation. Many of them are very friendly and talkative, quite different from what poor people have been described in the media. They also work very hard to survive in society, but they encounter a variety of challenges. Some of them have too many children to take care of, others do not have a good command of English. All of the difficulties make it hard for them to make a good living. Therefore, we should not make a judgment about a certain group of people based on stereotypes. Only when we talk with them can we develop deeper insights into their troubles and conduct stories with less bias.
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