http://hits.theguardian.com/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.25.5/44787?ns=guardian&pageName=Article%3Aamerican-media-ignores-poverty-issues%3A1975471&ch=Comment+is+free&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Poverty+%28Society%29%2CMedia%2CUS+news%2CSocial+media%2CInternet%2CFast+food+%28life+and+style%29&c5=Unclassified%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CMedia+Weekly%2CTechnology+Gadgets%2CCharities&c6=Daniel+Medina&c7=2013%2F10%2F05+11%3A30&c8=1975471&c9=Blog&c10=Comment&c13=The+other+1%25&c19=GUK&c25=Comment+is+free&c47=UK&c64=US&c65=About+15%25+of+Americans+live+in+poverty%2C+so+why+is+no+one+talking+about+it%3F&c66=Comment+is+free&c67=nextgen-compatible&c72=&c73=&c74=&c75=&h2=GU%2FComment+is+free%2FComment+is+free%2FPoverty
Mainstream media give very little coverage to poverty and the working class. It's a public interest failure
It's not my intention to belittle the government shutdown or the political showdown underway between President Obama and the GOP, but more often that not, America's fickle news media is dominated by one subject. It's what gets left out that is often more telling than what everyone (or at least the news) is talking about.
Remember the food stamp fight? It was only two weeks ago that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill that would strip $40bn from Snap (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka the food stamp program) over the next 10 years by imposing work requirements and eliminating waivers for "some able bodied adults". The move, which would effectively cut support for millions of poor Americans, was seen by critics as a heartless attempt by House Republicans to hack away at the nation's dwindling social safety net. But, what is more outrageous is that it took a draconian piece of legislation to even get the nation's attention on what has become one of the country's most ignored issues: poverty.
The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism found that (http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/a-new-focus-on-poverty-raises-a-question-about-times-coverage/)out of 52 mainstream media outlets analysed, coverage of poverty amounted to less than 1% of available news space from 2007 to 2012. It's even more astonishing considering that period covered a historic recession.
One of the report's conclusions was that media organizations chose not to cover poverty because it was potentially uncomfortable to advertisers seeking to reach a wealthy consumer audience. As Barbara Ehrenreich, who contributes articles on social issues for Time Magazine, put it (http://economichardship.org/why-are-working-people-invisible-in-the-mainstream-media/):

They don't want really depressing articles about misery and hardship near their ads.
Poverty coverage is seen as non-lucrative, time-consuming and involves high levels of commitment that editors are unwilling to give their reporters in this age of newsroom budget tightening. The greatest irony, however, is that poverty, as Tampa Bay Times media critic, Eric Deggans, told The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard (http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/102832/It-Cant-Happen-Here.aspx) earlier this year "is in some ways the ultimate accountability story – because, often, poverty happens by design".
In a nation where, according to the US Census Bureau's poverty statistics (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/17/us-usa-economy-poverty-idUSBRE98G0PN20130917)released last month, 46.5 million people (roughly 15%) of the nation's population lives in poverty, the idea that the media would not cover such a pressing human interest story because of financial troubles is misguided, if not inexcusable. It represents a failure on the part of the industry in fulfilling its role in serving the public interest.
The absence of coverage has left the poor with no voice in American society. As the plight of the nation's shrinking middle class, a central issue in last year's presidential campaign, consistently leads media coverage, the idea of poverty in America almost seems a relic from the past.
Nearly 50 years after President Lyndon B Johnson launched the "war on poverty" program that ushered in social security, Medicare and Medicaid amongst others, you could be fooled into believing that poverty is no longer a public policy problem in the US. Or as former Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman, put it in a US News & World Report op-ed (http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/05/01/politicians-press-must-confront-poverty-in-america) in May:

It feels today like a 'war on poverty' would need to begin with a battle just to gain recognition that poverty even exists.
New media outlets, from blogs like Daily Kos (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/02/1234857/-Inspiring-images-as-fast-food-workers-take-their-fight-to-the-streets#) to social media, appear ready to fill the coverage vacuum. There are independent journalists (http://allisonkilkenny.com/) and Twitter activists (https://twitter.com/povertynews) who prolifically cover issues that affect the working poor from debates (http://www.demos.org/50-years-other-america) on raising the federal minimum wage to securing labour rights. The American Prospect, a left-leaning socially conscious bi-monthly magazine, particularly does great work (http://prospect.org/article/pressing-upward-way/) on highlighting poverty.
The fast-food worker marches (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/29/us-fast-food-workers-strike-low-wages)this past summer were a watershed moment for poverty coverage in many ways. Mainstream media coverage of the protests was scant (the Guardian a notable exception (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/06/burger-king-fast-food-worker-strike)), but reporting and analysis were available elsewhere online, most notably from Democracy Now!, the independent TV network that ran a feature online titled "Forgotten Poor (http://www.democracynow.org/2013/9/12/the_american_way_of_poverty_as)", offering viewers a glimpse of those struggling to make ends meet.
If this growing underclass of poor Americans continues to be ignored, it will be permanently damaging to what remains of the independent character of US journalism. By bowing to their corporate sponsors in forsaking poverty coverage, the mainstream media is doing a huge disservice to us all by denying us a national discussion on poverty that has not taken place in decades.

Poverty (http://www.theguardian.com/society/poverty)
United States (http://www.theguardian.com/world/usa)
Social media (http://www.theguardian.com/media/social-media)
Internet (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/internet)
Fast food (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/fast-food)

Daniel A Medina (http://www.theguardian.com/profile/daniel-medina)

theguardian.com (http://www.theguardian.com) © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions (http://www.theguardian.com/help/terms-of-service) | More Feeds (http://www.theguardian.com/help/feeds)

http://feeds.theguardian.com/c/34708/f/663879/s/32157ae0/sc/30/mf.gif


http://da.feedsportal.com/r/176965432470/u/79/f/663879/c/34708/s/32157ae0/sc/30/rc/1/rc.img (http://da.feedsportal.com/r/176965432470/u/79/f/663879/c/34708/s/32157ae0/sc/30/rc/1/rc.htm)
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/176965432470/u/79/f/663879/c/34708/s/32157ae0/sc/30/rc/2/rc.img (http://da.feedsportal.com/r/176965432470/u/79/f/663879/c/34708/s/32157ae0/sc/30/rc/2/rc.htm)
http://da.feedsportal.com/r/176965432470/u/79/f/663879/c/34708/s/32157ae0/sc/30/rc/3/rc.img (http://da.feedsportal.com/r/176965432470/u/79/f/663879/c/34708/s/32157ae0/sc/30/rc/3/rc.htm)

http://da.feedsportal.com/r/176965432470/u/79/f/663879/c/34708/s/32157ae0/a2.img (http://da.feedsportal.com/r/176965432470/u/79/f/663879/c/34708/s/32157ae0/a2.htm)http://pi.feedsportal.com/r/176965432470/u/79/f/663879/c/34708/s/32157ae0/a2t.img

More... (http://feeds.theguardian.com/c/34708/f/663879/s/32157ae0/sc/30/l/0L0Stheguardian0N0Ccommentisfree0C20A130Coct0C0A50Camerican0Emedia0Eignores0Epoverty0Eissues/story01.htm)

They don't want really depressing articles about misery and hardship near their ads. Poverty coverage is seen as non-lucrative, time-consuming and involves high levels of commitment that editors are unwilling to give their reporters in this age of newsroom budget tightening.

This is a useful observation. It shows that it ain't no conspiracy, that it is not a matter of some bigshots dictating the narrative in some overt manner, it's just how capitalism works.

While this seems to me a middle class whine the numbers are stark, if race and class were taken into account it would be starker.


snip

30 Mindblowing Statistics About Americans Under The Age Of 30

Young adults as a group have been experiencing a tremendous amount of economic pain in recent years. The following are 30 statistics about Americans under the age of 30 that will blow your mind...

#1 The labor force participation rate for men in the 18 to 24 year old age bracket is at an all-time low.

#2 The ratio of what men in the 18 to 29 year old age bracket are earning compared to the general population is at an all-time low.

#3 Only about a third of all adults in their early 20s are working a full-time job.

#4 For the entire 18 to 29 year old age bracket, the full-time employment rate continues to fall. In June 2012, 47 percent of that entire age group had a full-time job. One year later, in June 2013, only 43.6 percent of that entire age group had a full-time job.

#5 Back in the year 2000, 80 percent of men in their late 20s had a full-time job. Today, only 65 percent do.

#6 In 2007, the unemployment rate for the 20 to 29 year old age bracket was about 6.5 percent. Today, the unemployment rate for that same age group is about 13 percent.

#7 American families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.

#8 During 2012, young adults under the age of 30 accounted for 23 percent of the workforce, but they accounted for a whopping 36 percent of the unemployed.

#9 During 2011, 53 percent of all Americans with a bachelor’s degree under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed.

#10 At this point about half of all recent college graduates are working jobs that do not even require a college degree.

#11 The number of Americans in the 16 to 29 year old age bracket with a job declined by 18 percent between 2000 and 2010.

#12 According to one survey, 82 percent of all Americans believe that it is harder for young adults to find jobs today than it was for their parents to find jobs.

#13 Incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation since the year 2000.

#14 In 1984, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older was 10 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger. Today, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older is 47 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger.

#15 In 2011, SAT scores for young men were the worst that they had been in 40 years.

#16 Incredibly, approximately two-thirds of all college students graduate with student loans.

#17 According to the Federal Reserve, the total amount of student loan debt has risen by 275 percent since 2003.

#18 In America today, 40 percent of all households that are led by someone under the age of 35 are paying off student loan debt. Back in 1989, that figure was below 20 percent.

#19 The total amount of student loan debt in the United States now exceeds the total amount of credit card debt in the United States.

#20 According to the U.S. Department of Education, 11 percent of all student loans are at least 90 days delinquent.

#21 The student loan default rate in the United States has nearly doubled since 2005.

#22 One survey found that 70% of all college graduates wish that they had spent more time preparing for the "real world" while they were still in college.

#23 In the United States today, there are more than 100,000 janitors that have college degrees.

#24 In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.

#25 Today, an all-time low 44.2 percent of all Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 are married.

#26 According to the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of all Americans in the 18 to 24 year old age bracket lived with their parents during 2012.

#27 One poll discovered that 29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are still living with their parents.

#28 Young men are nearly twice as likely to live with their parents as young women the same age are.

#29 Overall, approximately 25 million American adults are living with their parents according to Time Magazine.

#30 Young Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated that previous generations have saddled them with a nearly 17 trillion dollar national debt that they are expected to make payments on for the rest of their lives.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-10-04/30-mindblowing-statistics-about-americans-under-age-30

#30 obviously a right wing point, nonetheless taken together the situation is ripe for radicalization, one way or the other.