Media Layoffs Hurt the Poor

by Diane Nilan · 2009-10-02 05:03:00 UTC
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Yesterday, within the span of an hour, I spoke with 4 persons connected to 3 different media--2 newspapers, 1 TV news--who fear, or have experienced, job loss. These are people who think it important that poverty and homelessness, and other social issues, get coverage. They will likely feel the pain of job loss on the other side of the camera. And, I fear, people in poverty will suffer even more as this trend continues nationwide. Good journalists, already hard to find, are disappearing like snowflakes in summer.

Since the financial meltdown began a year ago, journalism jobs have gone away at almost three times the rate jobs have disappeared in the general economy, according to a report by Unity: Journalists of Color. (Editor & Publisher)

News about poverty and homelessness doesn't sell. When I talk to reporters I've known for years, they lament that they're too pressured to be able to adequately investigate stories, like the mortgage meltdown which those of us on the streets saw unfolding way before Rep. Barney Frank and company decried predatory loans.

How does this affect poverty? Unenlightened policies tend to hurt people in poverty. Now we're seeing the ranks of poverty and homelessness surge as people formerly known as "middle class" join the "have-nots." I'd speculate it's not the needs of people without insurance driving the discussion of our current health care debate.

In one Chicagoland area news company that faces almost certain extinction thanks to the "shenanigans" of its now jailed owner, over 1,800 people stand to lose jobs. They will lose health care, wages and spending power, and a chunk of self-esteem.

Seems to me when they lose we lose.

photos by the author

Diane Nilan is founder and president of HEAR US Inc. She travels the country chronicling poverty and homelessness.
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