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Scott Muggy
Joye Otto
WRI 121
8 July 2014
Is Poverty Accurately Portrayed on Television
Fifty years ago President Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on poverty. While he was in
office the programs President Johnson created decreased poverty from 23% to 12% (Dallek).
Fifty years later with no significant policy changes an estimated 1 in 7 Americans, are living
below the government poverty line (Sheffield). With so many people apparently living below the
poverty line, it brings the questions to mind; what is poverty and is poverty accurately portrayed
on television.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, suggests that when most Americans
hear the word poverty they imagine lack of food, clothing, and have poor housing conditions
(Sheffield). Because there is no one blanket poverty definition that answers the question, what is
poverty current economists and sociologists have taken the term poverty and have broken it
down into 2 broad subcategories; Absolute poverty and Relative poverty (Schwartzman).
Absolute poverty, sometimes called Extreme poverty, was defined by World Summit for Social
Development in 1995 as a severe deprivation of basic human needs and social services
(DESA). Relative poverty is a measure of income inequality as socially defined. Relative poverty
is usually measured by establishing a percentage of the population with an income below the
medium income (Marx and Van Den Bosch). Here in the United States the U.S. Census Bureau
publishes numbers that according the website are intended for use as a statistical yardstick.
The poverty thresholds were originally created in 1963 using the Department of Agriculture food
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budgets designed for families under economic stress (the cost of a minimum diet) and data about
what portion of their income families spend on food multiplied by 3. The Census Bureau then
annually adjusts the food cost using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U)
to reflect inflation (Census). The latest Census report states that 15% of the population is below
the poverty level, but there are people like Paul Bucheit who believe that the poverty level in
America is actually between 30% and 50% because the current poverty calculation matrix is so
out of date. (Bucheit).
Media Critic Danny Schechter said in an article for Global Research When an issue is
not on TV, it doesnt exist for millions of Americans (Sutherby). So with between 15% and
50% of the population living below the poverty level in this country how much new coverage is
there on poverty? According to Neil Rendall and Steve deMause who monitored the three major
broadcast networks news programs over a 38 month time period, they found that stories about
the poor only constituted about 0.4% of the news total broadcast time, a total of 57 news stories
(Rendall). To put this into a per show perspective; a one hour American television program is on
average 40 minutes long, after commercials (Comercials), that means that each hour long news
program contains an average of 9.6 seconds of news related to poverty or 1 news story every 15
weeks.
The argument could be made that during the time period that the study took place there
were no significant poverty events worthy of broadcasting. During the survey time period there
were 2 major subjects that occupied the most of the broadcast news programs time, the Michael
Jackson trial and Hurricane Katrina. For the first 6 months following Katrina 24 stories about
poverty were aired on the news that is almost half of the 57 news stories about poverty that ran
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during the research time frame. What is sad is that in 2005 alone Michael Jackson had more air
time than the poor on the news (44 stories) that year (Rendall).
When poverty is discussed on the news you will almost never get any perspective from
the poor themselves. When you do the perspective is edited to be the generic stories of poverty,
then quickly the news cuts over to their expert to discuss policy changes. During a report on high
heating oil prices a reporter for CBS asked an elderly resident of St. Paul Its pretty chilly, isnt
it? to which the elderly resident responded Yes it is (Rendall).
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported that without government actions and
programs there would be a much larger poor population (Sherman). But despite reports like these
politicians like throwing around the terms deserving poor and undeserving poor. Neil Rendall
and Steve deMause found that if you were poor and elderly or poor and a veteran the opinion
presented by the news was that these were deserving people (Rendall). But Washington
University poverty expert Mark Rank states that researchers have consistently found that the
behaviors and attitudes of those in poverty basically mirror those of mainstream America.
(Geier).
The conservative belief that hard work is all that is needed to escape poverty (Sheffield)
is challenged indirectly challenged by Mark Ranks statement American poverty is largely a
result of structural, rather than individual, failings. There simply are not enough viable
opportunities for all Americans (Geier). This statement not only challenges the conservative
belief but also the image that Hollywood sells in the feel good, underdog rising up and
succeeding against all odds just because they worked hard. When an American movie is made
about poverty it mostly takes the route of a person who struggles, works hard and succeeds at
escaping his financial misery. Their success is based either on someone giving them the help
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they need to succeed, The Blind Side, or they tighten their belt and work hard going after the
success The Pursuit of Happyness (Palmer). These are great stories of personal triumphs, but for
each success like these there are millions of others that work just as hard, but are not successful.
It is statistically not possible for there to be only a small number of the poor willing to put in the
work to increase their finances. There are some films that make attempts as accurate depictions
of poverty, but most are just content to continue to propagate the standard clichs that film views
have come to accept (Winter).
With American films falling far short of accurate depictions of poverty; does television
succeed? It has already been established that the American television news falls far short of
consideration. In searching for television shows that addressed poverty as a primary component
several shows came up. After looking at each candidate over the last 50 years only two shows
were produced where poverty was serious a key component of the show; Showtimes Shameless
(Macy and Rossum) and CBSs Good Times (Rolle and Walker). Other shows will occasionally
touch on poverty, but just as single episodes, usually around the holidays.
Poverty is failing to be portrayed with any kind of accuracy in our lives. From movies
and television we watch, to our elected leaders, even to what we tell each other. Poverty is not a
static idea, as society evolves so must our methods of measuring and helping those in needs.
Television and Film have always had the power to influence people emotionally and
intellectually. Without their help Americans will still believe that the poor are poor because they
are lazy or not deserving. Without the American people politicians and special interest groups
will continue to blur the poverty issue by obscuring facts and using terms like deserving.


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Works Cited
Average Hour-Long TV Show is 36% Commercials. 7 5 2009. 22 7 2014.
Bucheit, Paul. Overwhelming Evidence that Half of America is In or Near Poverty. 23 3 2014.
Web. 5 7 2014. <http://www.alternet.org/economy/overwhelming-evidence-half-america-
or-near-poverty>.
Dallek, Robert. How Do Historians Evaluate the Administration of Lyndon Johnson? 8 7 2002.
Web. 8 7 2014. <http://hnn.us/article/439>.
Geier, Kathleen. Deserving vs Undeserving poor - for the love of God, here we go again. 21 12
2013. Web. 23 7 2014.
Good Times. Perf. Esther Rolle and Jimmie Walker. Prod. Norman Lear. 1974. Television. 8 7
2014.
Marx, Ive and Karel Van Den Bosch. "HOW POVERTY DIFFERS FROM INEQUALITY."
University of Antwerp, Belgium, 2008. Print. 22 7 2014.
Palmer, Landon. For 50 Years, Films Have Largely Failed to Fight The War on Poverty. 14 1
2014. Web. 5 7 2014. <http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/for-50-years-films-have-
largely-failed-to-fight-the-war-on-poverty.php#ixzz36YeiCnft>.
Rendall, Neil deMause and Steve. The Poor Will Always Be With Us--Just Not on the TV News. 1
9 2007. Web. 5 7 2014. <http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/the-poor-will-always-be-
with-us-just-not-on-the-tv-news/>.
Schwartzman, Simon. The Statistical Measurement of Poverty. Summary. United Nations.
Santiago and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1998. Print. 22 7 2014.
Shameless (U.S.). Perf. William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum. Bonanza Productions. Showtime,
2011. Television. 8 7 2014.
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Sheffield, Robert Rector and Rachel. "Understanding Poverty in the United States:." Report. The
Heritage Foundation, 2011. Web. 5 7 2014.
<http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/09/understanding-poverty-in-the-united-
states-surprising-facts-about-americas-poor>.
Sherman, Arloc. Poverty and Financial Distress Would Have Been Substantially Worse in 2010
Without Government Action, New Census Data Show. 7 11 2011. Web. 8 7 2014.
<http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3610>.
Sutherby, Kaitlin. Danny Schechter: Putting Poverty On TV. 7 3 2014. 6 7 2014.
<http://borgenproject.org/danny-schechter-putting-poverty-tv/>.
US Census Bureau Information onPoverty. n.d. 19 7 2014.
Winter, Max. SUNLIGHT JR. and American Film's Misunderstanding of Poverty. 18 11 2013.
Web. 4 7 2014. <http://blogs.indiewire.com/pressplay/sunlight-jr-and-american-films-
misunderstanding-of-poverty>.
"World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen Declaration." Copenhagen, Denmark:
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), 1995. Print. 20 7
2014.