Question

clearly explain whether poor people in the media are portrayed as being deserving of their poverty or as victims of social forces beyond their control. Provide two clear examples to illustrate your position.

Answer 1

The question framed should be, "Whether poor people, as portrayed by the media, are deserving of their nature of poverty, or are propelled by social agents?"

There are two parts of the question. One is the effect of media in mediating the poor conditions of the state. Given the wide range of perspectives in media that increased with the internet and information revolution, discourse about poor people and their needs appears as a site of struggle where groups with unequal discursive resources compete to establish their respective stories about legitimate social needs. Democratic theory assumes that a particular perspective will not become subject to legitimate state intervention until it has been debated across a wide range of discourse publics. Further, most of us rely on media to present these various perspectives. As we watch, listen, and read about the likely causes of poverty and proposed state intervention - a mediated reality of poverty is created. Fraser claims that when the voices of experts and bureaucratic sources dominate the public debate in media discourse, the people whose lives are in question become repositioned. Media representations of poor people create images of poverty. For example, in the contemporary debate on welfare, poor people are positioned as recipients of predefined services rather than active agents involved in interpreting their needs and shaping their life conditions.

A second take on the question questions whether the poor are deserving of their poverty? It is a matter of sociological discourse. While on one hand, this inequality of economics is related to the uneven distribution of power. This suggests that there is a continuous flow of power from one body to another due to which there will never be a balance in economic distributions. Marx's dream of the equal wages may never be reached, but we shall, of course, find a revolution that leads to a shift of power from the existing body to a new one. This means deserving or not, poverty or dearth is bound to exist.

An example of the former: The lifestyle photographers would present a romanticized version of poverty while a new reporter may do the opposite. Therefore, poverty is distorted according to the target spectator.

An example of the later: The shift in economic classes after the French revolution.