Media and Poverty
Carlos Lyons Lyons 1
Ryan Weldon
ENGLISH 201
10-25-2012
Media and Poverty
The effect media has on modern society is enormous. Sometimes it's hard to believe that
something as simple as one person reading a newspaper, watching news, or going out to the movie
theater to watch a current Hollywood Blockbuster, can can influence society as a whole. Media can
target society as a whole or isolate a certain sector of society. In this review I would like to focus on
one sector of society, the bottom end of the economic classes, the poor. I would like to analyze the
perception society has of the poor and its connection to the media. In this day and age, media has
taken many different forms to expand even further its ability inform, connect, and entertain the masses.
The two main types of media that will be my focus are, text and digital productions. Both types of
media have increased in scope and exposure frequency with the rise in popularity of the internet and
electronic mobile devices.
Digital productions make new kinds of production possible, such as blogging and other
multimedia applications. Another advantage of digital production is that people have larger
communicative possibilities by using the Internet to interact with wider audiences than had been
possible before. These new kinds of media complement existing media, advertising, popular literature,
media's reporting of social issues (Sefton-Green 283).
The media frames social issues in certain way, telling the audience what is important to know
about and how to think about it. The media can frame questions of responsibility, leading the audience
to determine the causes of and solution for social problems. There are three main factors that the media
uses to frame social issues (Kim and Carvalho and Davis 563-565). First, social norms and cultural Lyons 2 values can effect the way an issue is framed. The media
Ryan Weldon
ENGLISH 201
10-25-2012
Media and Poverty
The effect media has on modern society is enormous. Sometimes it's hard to believe that
something as simple as one person reading a newspaper, watching news, or going out to the movie
theater to watch a current Hollywood Blockbuster, can can influence society as a whole. Media can
target society as a whole or isolate a certain sector of society. In this review I would like to focus on
one sector of society, the bottom end of the economic classes, the poor. I would like to analyze the
perception society has of the poor and its connection to the media. In this day and age, media has
taken many different forms to expand even further its ability inform, connect, and entertain the masses.
The two main types of media that will be my focus are, text and digital productions. Both types of
media have increased in scope and exposure frequency with the rise in popularity of the internet and
electronic mobile devices.
Digital productions make new kinds of production possible, such as blogging and other
multimedia applications. Another advantage of digital production is that people have larger
communicative possibilities by using the Internet to interact with wider audiences than had been
possible before. These new kinds of media complement existing media, advertising, popular literature,
media's reporting of social issues (Sefton-Green 283).
The media frames social issues in certain way, telling the audience what is important to know
about and how to think about it. The media can frame questions of responsibility, leading the audience
to determine the causes of and solution for social problems. There are three main factors that the media
uses to frame social issues (Kim and Carvalho and Davis 563-565). First, social norms and cultural Lyons 2 values can effect the way an issue is framed. The media