{"id":19095,"date":"2022-10-11T09:00:27","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T13:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=19095"},"modified":"2022-10-11T12:28:14","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T16:28:14","slug":"media-coverage-of-homelessness-skews-public-perception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/media-coverage-of-homelessness-skews-public-perception\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Coverage of Homelessness Skews Public Perception"},"content":{"rendered":"
Nearly\u00a0<\/span>half<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of Americans are afraid of people experiencing homelessness. About 35 percent of those surveyed agree with the forcible removal of people from encampments and other unsheltered spaces. In comparison, 45 percent said, \u201csome neighborhoods are more suitable for shelters than others\u201d\u2014in other words, not their neighborhoods. And 47 percent of people surveyed believe people experiencing homelessness will cause crime in their neighborhoods, even though unsheltered homeless people are more likely to be victims of crime.<\/span><\/p>\n These misguided opinions are informed by a media narrative that paints people experiencing homelessness as addicted to drugs, mentally ill, and victims of their own choices. That narrative implies homelessness is a result of personal shortcomings, not a systemic failure.<\/span><\/p>\n John Oliver lambasted this narrative in\u00a0<\/span>an episode<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of \u201cLast Week Tonight\u201d last October, using clips from news programs and talk shows to illustrate how people experiencing homelessness are portrayed.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFar too often, stories focusing on homelessness are presented solely through the lens of how it affects those with homes when in reality, it\u2019s obviously the people without them who need the real help,\u201d Oliver said. \u201cThe story of homelessness in this country is grounded in a failure of perception, compounded by failures of policy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Oliver blamed Ronald Reagan for pushing the notion that homelessness specifically and poverty in general is anything but a public policy choice.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cReagan\u2026 came to power at a time when homelessness was increasing, and made the problem far worse by cutting programs for the poor and slashing housing subsidies by 75 percent,\u201d Oliver said.<\/span><\/p>\n The former president then pushed the idea that homeless people chose their plight.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOne problem that we\u2019ve had even in the best of times, and that is the people who are sleeping on the grates,\u201d Reagan said. \u201cThe homeless who are homeless, you might say, by choice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The media then reinforces these misperceptions.\u00a0<\/span>The Center for Media and Social Impact<\/span><\/a>\u00a0reviewed television episodes and news articles from 2017 and 2018, looking for mentions of housing-related topics. Researchers found the following:<\/span><\/p>\n Clearly, the media narrative surrounding homelessness needs to be rewritten.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2016, the\u00a0<\/span>Renaissance Journalism Center<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Community and Media Lab<\/span><\/a>\u00a0at San Francisco State University held a briefing on homelessness. Afterward, San Francisco Public Press writers Hye-Jin Kim and Meka Boyle\u00a0<\/span>offered tips for local reporters<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on how to better write about homelessness and housing.<\/span><\/p>\n Using that list and our own experience, we\u2019ve composed our own guide for journalists:<\/span><\/p>\n The most prevalent\u2014always\u2014is lack of affordable housing, a problem that continues to grow in the wake of the pandemic as house prices soar amid limited housing stock. But domestic violence and familial conflicts may also drive people into the streets. Some people may literally have to choose between housing and survival.<\/span><\/p>\n This seems obvious, but every circumstance is different. While some people are living in their cars, others are couch-surfing or staying in shelters.<\/span><\/p>\n Many people experiencing homelessness are ignored by the mainstream narrative, which focuses on middle-aged single men. But families make up about\u00a0<\/span>30 percent<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of the homeless population. Young adults who identify as LGBTQ are at much higher risk for homelessness than their non-LGBTQ counterparts.<\/span><\/p>\n Homelessness as we know it today would not exist without several important events:<\/span><\/p>\n And you can\u2019t discuss modern-day homelessness without addressing the systemic racism that pervades American society, from redlining and exclusionary zoning to intergenerational poverty to housing discrimination to the War on Drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n What\u2019s really being criminalized? Are people being punished for creating public health hazards or a public nuisance or for sitting down? When encampments are cleared, what happens to the people who are moved? How much is being spent on these efforts? How much would it cost to go a different route? How humane are these policies?<\/span><\/p>\n Homelessness is a public health crisis costing\u00a0<\/span>taxpayers<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as much as $50,000 a year for every person left chronically homeless.<\/span><\/p>\n Journalists can focus on what\u2019s working without acting as advocates. \u201cExposing the problem isn\u2019t always enough. People and society need ways to respond,\u201d said Rikha Sharma Rani, a freelance writer, and a director at the\u00a0<\/span>Solutions Journalism Network<\/span><\/a>. \u201cThe key question to ask should be, \u2018Who\u2019s doing this better? And how?\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Oliver put it simply.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBasically, we need to stop being [expletives] and assuming that unhoused [people] are a collection of drug addict criminals who\u2019ve chosen this life for themselves, instead of people suffering the inevitable consequences of gutted social programs and a nationwide divestment from affordable housing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tips for Journalists to Improve Reporting on Homelessness Nearly\u00a0half\u00a0of Americans are afraid of people experiencing homelessness. About 35 percent of those surveyed agree with the forcible removal of people from encampments and other unsheltered spaces. In comparison, 45 percent said, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":19096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10139,7639],"tags":[17201,253,832,515,17199,17200,508,17202],"coauthors":[16041],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19095"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19095"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20019,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19095\/revisions\/20019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19095"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=19095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How the Media Wrongfully Reports on Homelessness<\/h3>\n
In the most watched TV shows:<\/h4>\n
\n
\n
In \u201ctopic-based\u201d shows that deal directly with housing issues and gentrification:<\/h4>\n
\n
\n
In the 12 most-read newspapers in the country:<\/h4>\n
\n
\n
We Need Better Reporting on Topics of Homelessness<\/h2>\n
First and foremost, recognize the diverse causes of homelessness.<\/h4>\n
Don\u2019t stereotype people experiencing homelessness.<\/h4>\n
Highlight the \u201cinvisible\u201d homeless people.<\/h4>\n
Identify the historical context around homelessness.<\/h4>\n
\n
Examine criminalization policies.<\/h4>\n
Recognize the benefits of housing.<\/h4>\n
Offer solutions.<\/h4>\n