Tricia Bealer- The Characterization of Poverty in the Media

Introduction

For many years, the issue of welfare has been characterized by the mass media. Newsapers, Textbooks, and other media sources many times misrepresent the poor in a number of ways. African Americans often are the object for many inaccurate portrayals of the poor. These following articles display the various ways in which certain portions of the public are attached to this issue of poverty and the stereotypes the media attaches to these groups.


Race and Poverty in America

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This article discusses how the worldview of Americans most often comes from information presented to us through the mass media. This occurs among Americans despite the false representations of different issues by the media in society. This article argues that this concept comes to life whereas African Americans are overrepresented in the media as the majority of the poor in the U.S. Regardless of conflicting statistics and the reality of the fact that more whites are struck by poverty in our nation, the public continues to acknowledge African Americans as the majority of poor people in the U.S. In addition to this problem, this article discusses how African Americans are rarely portrayed in media coverage stories as part of the sympathetic portion of the poor. The source of a misrepresentation of poverty in America and these racial stereotypes are further explained in this article.

Poverty As We Know It

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Research in this article picks up where the author of the last article (Race and Poverty in America) left off. This article analyzes character traits or behaviors associated with poor people in America. The author of this article then studies whether or not photographs displayed in the media reflects current stereotypes of the poor. This article proved the idea that the poor is represented in the media inaccurately and stereotypically. According to this article, the media portrays negative views of the poor, displays hostility towards African Americans, and does not support welfare programs.


Poor People, Black Faces

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This article examines the misrepresentation of the poor in American society carried out by college economic textbooks. It is noted early on in the article that often times the issue of poverty in America is closely associated with issues of race. More specifically, the author investigates her theory that African Americans are falsely represented as a bigger proportion of the poor than in reality. The research done in this article displays the unfortunate circumstances that so often today play a huge role in reinforcing stereotypes and contribute to institutionalized discrimination. Through the disproportionate portrayals of African Americans in poverty, college textbooks are responsible for maintaining a race coding of poverty.

Media Portrays Most Poor People as Black

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This article acknowledges blacks once again as being the poster race for poverty in America. This Yale University study found that blacks more often than whites portray stories about poverty. Among major national news magazines, blacks were disproportionately represented in stories that involved issues of poverty. The article also discusses how television programs are also responsible for maintaining a racial misrepresentation among African Americans.

Media Magic: Making Class Invisible

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This article discusses the various influences the media has on the public. The author, Gregory Mantsios, informs the reader of specific ways in which the mass media characterizes society in various ways. Mantsios then goes on to talk about the unfortunate stereotypes society accepts to be true under the guidance and manipulation of the media. Specific principles are addressed and further explained to sort out the different misconceptions the media portrays concerning the poor.

Conclusion

Poverty has been misrepresented and inaccurately portrayed by the media many times in society. Unfortunately, much of society’s worldview depends of the information presented through the mass media. These articles depict how unfair press can be in disproportionately representing African Americans as a majority of the poor when in reality this is not the case. Other stereotypes in these articles were discussed to show how the media perpetuates these false portrayals of the poor. Unfortunately, the victims of these stereotypes have to work very hard at disproving the media as inaccurate. By creating articles such as these, the media is working its way towards becoming better aware of the implicit stereotypes that society bases their perceptions on.