In this paper, I will discuss the ongoing homelessness crisis, and specifically how it is portrayed in media from various conglomerates, as I feel there is a lot of unfair and prejudiced images of the homeless being broadcast on major news channels.
Content Analysis
The report broadcast on UTV focuses hugely on single cases of the homeless rather than the issue as a whole. It portrays the average homeless person as a middle-aged man, most likely addicted to alcohol or drugs. In fact, they cut to a shot of a beer can directly after interviewing a rough sleeper. This is simply not the case, as “More than one in three people in emergency accommodation is a child” (Focus Ireland, 2018).
The report from Ireland AM shows what is a recurring issue with the reporting of homelessness, namely, the problem only comes up in media during Christmas, or if a rough sleeper dies, seemingly made to make people watching feel guilt, and therefore they will donate to charities. After a few days, perhaps a week, everything goes quiet once more, and the problem persists.
Language
The report broadcast on RTÉ used very factual language, and backed up all of their points with evidence from reliable sources such as the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which made the report itself more credible.
The Ireland AM broadcast used very blameful language, for example they spoke of the woman who “refused to stay in mixed accommodation”, without considering the possible reasons for this, as perhaps she has a genuine reason for this. They also state that “People just don’t want a bed”. This, again, is a case of blaming the victims, which is less than fair in any situation.
In general, especially around the time of Christmas, and Thanksgiving in the United States, media will tell the stories of the many homeless, however it will do so through a narrative of ‘charity’ and ‘human interest’. These reports usually focus on the actions and opinions of volunteering bodies. Even ‘well interested’ journalists, who spend a night or two on the streets, to write a seasonal story, seemingly from the perspective of the homeless, might in fact further strengthen the existing assumptions about homelessness, and do very little to provoke long term solutions. (Devereux, 2015)
After peaking in the late 1980s, the total amount of coverage in print media began to decline. Lind and Danowski (1999) concluded that homelessness received very little attention in television and radio between 1988 and 1990. The study reported that 57% of the reports that did appear to be placing the blame for their plight. (Buck, Toro and Ramos, 2004)
Homelessness
In various reports, the camera tends to look down on the interviewed rough sleeper, giving you a feeling of superiority, and therefore making you look at the homeless as inferior. This furthers the idea of focusing on specific cases rather than the issue of homelessness as a whole.
The camera in UTV’s broadcast also cuts directly to a beer can presumably sitting next to the interviewee, to highlight and in a way exaggerate the idea that your average rough sleeper is an addict of some sort. Apart from being far from the truth, this idea can be “damaging to Ireland’s reputation”, as stated by Damien English, Junior Minister for Housing in 2017. Reports state that the most frequent causes of homelessness among families are; the lack of affordable housing; unemployment; and poverty, in that order (Nlchp.org, 2018).
Generally when homelessness is portrayed in the media, we see either extremely “good stories that make us hopeful for humanity” or very negative depiction of rough sleepers “wrapped up in drugs” (Barajas, 2015), and so we tend to avoid such people that the media “warns us” about.
Studies on homelessness have shown that, in the United Kingdom, 1 in every 13 adults report having slept rough at least once in their lifetime (Toro et al. 2007), and that the largest group within the homeless community are the ‘transitionally homeless’, meaning they experience relatively few and short shelter stays (Ortiz-Ospina and Roser, 2018).
When reporting homelessness, the media don’t just repeat the same information. The reporting builds momentum through new cases, characters, policies, and research. The trick is to approach news coverage as a narrative, and not as distinct “items” (Hodgetts, Cullen and Radley, 2005)
Sources and Source Bias
Although objective sources like the CSO are used throughout RTÉ’s report, it also features interviews with, for example, Mr Fergus Finlay, the CEO of Barnardos, which means it can be viewed as a subjective report, lowering its credibility.
The UTV report mentions statistics, but doesn’t specifically state the source. They do however interview Peter McVerry, again making the report seem subjective, as a high ranking official of a charity dealing with homelessness will likely exaggerate the input that charity has in fighting the issue.
Despite what some journalists protest, media content is never neutral. It is socially constructed, and contains clues about the social makeup that determines so much about our lives. Media content influences not only the opinions and attitudes of the public, but also, perhaps more tellingly the perspectives of those who possess political power (Devereux, 2015).
The variety of journalism and news about homeless people allowed us to discover, in some way, who is behind the news; Who has the capacity and power to produce and convey this information. This also provides a pattern in terms of protagonists and themes, sometimes the sources are the same as the protagonists. (Caeiro and Gonçalves, 2015)
As well as that, articles often appear accompanied by images, making otherwise invisible messages turn into visible ones, sometimes contradicting the text itself. Photos are a ‘visual representation’ that can influence the reader positively or negatively, shaping their perception of social reality. (Caeiro and Gonçalves, 2015)
Ideologies
All of the sample reports seem to focus on individual cases, implying that homelessness is a problem that only affects people who have brought it on themselves, and fail to explain that many innocent people, including children and the elderly, become homeless as a result of circumstances, or something that they have absolutely no control over.
Race and gender inequalities also influence homelessness. The increasing prevalence of women who are homeless is linked to domestic violence, nested in turn in a patriarchal culture. Although gendered notions of care giving for women yields more available services, these services also tend to reproduce ‘problematic concepts of female dependency’. As gender and race supply forms of ‘otherness’, they condition homelessness as a social phenomenon, and how it is experienced. (Wasserman, Clair and Platt, 2012)
Conclusion
Finally, I believe many things could be done to improve the quality of reporting when it comes to homelessness, including to focus on the issue rather than individual cases of homeless people, as well as simply getting the facts straight. I believe there should be a portion of the media dedicated to objective reporting, as it seems that every current source of news applies its own pre-determined ideals and beliefs.