The Humanization of Poverty in Journalism
Respectfully presenting the facts and characters
An opportunity that solutions journalism presents for understanding and illustrating poverty is humanizing the situations of those affected. Solutions journalism offers a chance where stories are told from a respectful, unbiased perspective with the intent of educating the public. The public must understand that poverty can affect anyone at any point of their life and that poverty doesn’t always equate complete destitution that only affects people born in ghettos or slums. Poverty has many different confounding factors and faces.
In regard to poverty in the United States, it is often associated with African Americans and Latino Americans. The two communities are often stereotyped and many people believe that being of that race led them to certain choices that caused them to be affected by poverty. However, some forms of journalism attempt to humanize poverty by informing the public that poverty isn’t just a race issue while investigating the cause and presenting solutions. Additionally, journalism that seeks to humanize poverty delivers content that crosses social boundaries and attempts to show people that poverty is a universal issue.
The framework of solutions journalism allows for poverty and economic inequality to be told in a humanizing, unbiased way. I was able to reach this conclusion following a class discussion on a radio news story covering the impoverished neighborhoods of South Los Angeles where new green spaces were being built. The news story respectfully presented historical and geographical information in a way that was captivating by painting visual images for the listener.
The careful choice of words and tone made a difference in explaining how the Watts Riots in 1965 was the cause of the neighborhood not having access to greenspaces. The description did not incriminate the people who caused the riots but instead gave a visual of what the location looks like today so the listener can see themselves in the setting. Also, the angle on the residents portrayed a relatable side by demonstrating a shared need for safe spaces in the community rather than highlighting the background struggles of the residents in order to draw on sympathy or tragedy for the sake of high ratings and reviews. The angle rather showed a relatable person with wishes for a safe space where she and her children could exercise. Furthermore, this story seeks to show a humanistic side to poverty where even someone who has never been exposed to poverty can imaginarily put themselves in the setting and in the shoes of the story’s subjects.
Due to the many definitions and perceptions surrounding the word “poverty” it is a challenge trying to write a story in a way that fits everyone’s definition and matches their own struggles with poverty. When it comes to writing my own story, I plan to pick a topic surrounding higher education and poverty. I want to focus on this topic because it is relatable. Most people believe that education and college is the ticket out of poverty. But in some cases, education perpetuates the cycle of poverty due to the high costs of college tuition and student loans. With this topic, I figure that the public can relate and can imagine themselves in the situations of the stories I’ll tell because most people hold the same belief that education ends poverty and sought education to avoid themselves living in poverty.
For the Philadelphia audience, I plan to research universities and nonprofit organizations in the area that are working to combat expensive education costs and others that maintain expensive education costs. Additionally, I plan to approach the solutions journalism coverage for my news story by humanizing the subjects in the story and not dramatizing or sensationalizing their struggles. I also plan to highlight the solutions and limitations of the topic by incorporating data and interviews.
