Module: Practicing Sociology
Week 6 – Representation of Poverty in the News
Next week, we will be looking at visual sociology and ethics.
Report
Look at an image of poverty and discuss the ethics of it.
Include a definition of poverty
Discuss what harms you can possibly do by taking a picture
There has been lots of research done on the representation of poverty in the media.
There’s lots of debate about how true that is. We will be looking at who are these
journalists and how are they reporting these issues on poverty.
Discussion
Do you believe everything you read in the news?
If not why not?
- Biased/one-sided
- Things can be exaggerated so they can make money.
- Concern about how much fact-checking goes on.
- Only a few people control what goes on the news so they could just
write what they want us to believe.
- There’s a lot of fake news that can be spread on social media.
- However, if you worry too much about fake news, then you end up
not believing in anything.
- BBC is technically a state broadcaster.
- Newspapers nowadays often reflect the political views of the editors
or owners. It’s almost like political advertising/propaganda rather
than factual reporting.
- Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul dominates the media. He is right
wing and is very influential. There’s a lack of accountability due to
money the empire has.
- Unbiased news doesn’t exist because everyone has a certain view
about the world.
What criteria do you use to decide whether you believe something or not?
- Being an active audience and questioning what is not
representative.
Week 6 – Representation of Poverty in the News
Next week, we will be looking at visual sociology and ethics.
Report
Look at an image of poverty and discuss the ethics of it.
Include a definition of poverty
Discuss what harms you can possibly do by taking a picture
There has been lots of research done on the representation of poverty in the media.
There’s lots of debate about how true that is. We will be looking at who are these
journalists and how are they reporting these issues on poverty.
Discussion
Do you believe everything you read in the news?
If not why not?
- Biased/one-sided
- Things can be exaggerated so they can make money.
- Concern about how much fact-checking goes on.
- Only a few people control what goes on the news so they could just
write what they want us to believe.
- There’s a lot of fake news that can be spread on social media.
- However, if you worry too much about fake news, then you end up
not believing in anything.
- BBC is technically a state broadcaster.
- Newspapers nowadays often reflect the political views of the editors
or owners. It’s almost like political advertising/propaganda rather
than factual reporting.
- Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul dominates the media. He is right
wing and is very influential. There’s a lack of accountability due to
money the empire has.
- Unbiased news doesn’t exist because everyone has a certain view
about the world.
What criteria do you use to decide whether you believe something or not?
- Being an active audience and questioning what is not
representative.
