The Media's Influence On Poverty

Nowadays, one main form of spreading out information on a global level is by using the media. The media is the start to mass communication, whether it 's online or on paper. As the years go on, more and more people start to understand that the media tries to create dramatic headlines, which involves inaccurate or exaggerated information. This brings up a common question of, to what extent does the media affect and influence a person’s perception and response to an idea, in this case poverty. Poverty is the condition where people 's basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter are not being met. Everything that is presented to society on poverty is what the media has shown, except if an individual has connections to it first hand. So is it wrong

One misconception society has is that the poor are poor, because of their own choices or mistakes. The media often chooses to portray the impoverished in a rough neighbourhood barely getting by, without showing the outside factors that have contributed to the situation, like generational and situational poverty. This sells the idea that those who work hard and dream big, will become successful; and the myth comes from a background of privilege, race, and education. People often assume that everyone has an equal chance and access to resources, which can result in achievement. However this assumption is unrealistic and

It was concluded that the issue of poverty and how the media often exaggerates the information was understood, but still didn’t think that, if the “ information was portrayed accurately it would benefit the issue”. Some presume that, since the world already has people aware of the situation, but nothing is done about it, increasing the awareness wouldn’t necessarily increase the benefits. Students believed that people can help the poor, but it’s mainly the government 's action and decisions that can highly alleviate the issue. The data showed that the first image that pops into their heads when hearing the word poverty is revolved around extreme poverty. Most described it as starving kids in Africa, living with their families in poorly conditioned homes, barely surviving. This is not to say it isn 't true, the first images that are shown in google when the keywords “poverty” are typed in shows everything said. This proves how narrow the media is when it depicts the poor, and forgets about the high amount of people just above the extreme poverty