Media is attacked for its portrayal of poverty

The TUC’s annual poverty conference last month threw down the gauntlet to the media to stop stereotyping those on low incomes as “benefit cheats” and “scroungers”.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said that, despite the fact that poverty is no laughing matter, popular television programmes like Wife Swap and Shameless “portray people on low incomes as ‘scroungers’ and second class citizens, worthy of ridicule”.

He said: “Contrary to media stereotypes, people on low incomes are not all cheating the benefits system. More than half of children living in poverty have parents in work, but many are caught up in a cycle of low-paid insecure jobs.”

And he pointed out that the majority of people on low incomes “want decent work but are struggling, particularly in the current economic climate”. He added that negative portrayals of people on low incomes “do nothing to help social cohesion”.

The conference also launched Communicating Poverty, a new report by the UK Coalition Against Poverty (UKCAP), the charity working with and on behalf of anti-poverty groups. The report draws on the experiences of those living in poverty, highlighting both their isolation and frustration, and gives examples of community-based initiatives which challenge stereotypes.