New Project Aims to Increase Media Coverage of Poverty

This month, best-selling author and investigative journalist Barbara Ehrenreich teamed up with the Institute for Policy Studies to launch the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, which will use original journalism to lift the crisis of poverty and economic inequality to the forefront of national conversation. Ehrenreich, known for her outspoken criticism of the media۪s coverage of the economic crisis and continuing struggles faced by millions of Americans, will work with unemployed and underemployed journalists to produce stories that explore poverty, inequality and the decline of the middle class. These stories will be published in various media outlets and collected on the Project۪s website.

Earlier this year, Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity hosted a forum that included an examination of media coverage of poverty during the 2012 elections. Panelist Bob Herbert, former columnist for The New York Times, noted that despite growing interest in poverty and inequality as a result of the Occupy Movement, coverage remains scarce. “If there is a story about poor people in The New York Times or The Washington Post it is the exception.Covering Occupy Wall Street isn’t covering poverty,” he said.

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As an aggregator for news on poverty and opportunity, Spotlight welcomes the Economic Hardship Reporting Project as an important vehicle for elevating the issue of poverty during this election season and beyond. 

 

Posted by Tamanna
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