going beyond poor journalism that ignores the poor - nalaka gunawardene

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Going beyond Poor journalism

that ignores the poor

By Nalaka GunawardeneScience writer & columnist (Ravaya, Echelon)

At Orientation Workshop for

Media Fellowships on Poverty & Development

Colombo, Sri Lanka: 24 Sep 2016

Crying Wolf in the Global Village nalakagunawardene.com

Coming up… Why is poverty such an important story for

media? And why is it so poorly covered? Exploring poverty involves income

inequality, class privilege, policy failures… Issues today are highly complex (3 examples) Poverty & under-development: source of

many media stories for open-minded journos

Challenges in reporting on poverty How to stay sceptical (but NOT grow cynical)


2030: End of Poverty?Is this ever attainable?

All member states of United Nations, incl. Sri Lanka, are committed to 17 SDGs (adopted in Sep 2015, effective from Jan 2016)

#1 Goal: No More Poverty by 2030


Journalists must be sceptical.But no need to be…cynical!

Cartoon by Nath PareshKhaleej Times, Dubai


Covering poverty:Part of Development Journalism

“Development journalism became the last refuge of mediocre media…It was taken by many Third World journalists as an excuse to be third-rate, and editors’ eyes glazed over at the very mention of the word ‘development’…”

Tarzie Vittachi (1921-1993), Lankan journalist, editor and dev. communicator


Why should media houses bother with poverty issues?

“For me as an editor, there is a compelling case for engaging with poverty. Increasing education and literacy is related to increasing the size of my readership. Our main audiences are indeed drawn from the middle classes, business and policymakers. But these groups cannot live in isolation. The welfare of the many is in the interests of the people who read the Daily Star.”

Editor & PublisherDaily Star newspaper, Bangladesh


Poverty: Never a popular topic for most Lankan media?

Our media has narrowly defined poverty = negativity

Many media don’t want to touch it

Other media just skim the issues, never probing them


Most Lankan media very poor in their coverage of poverty…

Television: totally avoids discussing roots of poverty (except as sad, sob stories)

Newspapers: gloss over complexity or reduces it to a a simple lack of money

Stereotyping: B&W images of suffering & tears/sighs


“?[A world without poor people]


Lankan society’s perceptions of poor – some shaped by media

“Poverty is poor people’s own fault” (said to be: lazy, demanding, breed too fast, spoilt, etc.)

“Poverty is poor people’s karma”: can anything change that fatalism?

Some blame poverty on long-gone colonialism or neo-colonialism

Others wait for end of capitalism to tackle poverty (a long wait indeed!)


Poverty & Dev Media Fellows’ applications their views

Street children, child labour Beggars & destitute people Chronic kidney disease patients in Dry Zone Migrant worker women going to Middle East Samurdhi (poverty reduction cash transfers) Older people without pensions/income security Poverty – alcohol nexus ALL valid aspects, but poverty is a complex

topic with many facets!


What you see depends on where you are!


Poverty & Development: closely linked, can’t be separated

Cartoon byW R Wijesoma


Poverty is linked to inequality

Source: Sri Lanka Millennium Development Goals Country Report 2014


Poverty: Global North-South disparities

BUT let’s not forget…There are more and more rich people in the SouthAnd also lots of poor people in the North


Poverty: a reflection of development policies

Cartoon by Awantha Artigala


Poverty: an indicator of development disparities



Poverty: Reflection of gender disparities in our society



Poverty & under-developmentreflect state of governance



Lot of ‘development’ work is anti-poor, even anti-people…



Poverty numbers: indictment of failed poverty-reduction progs



Poverty: Much more than a matter of headcounts & incomes

Cartoon by Suren, Ceylon Today


Poverty is a very political topic: So don’t try to avoid it


Poverty is not karma. It’s not inevitable or destiny.


Inequality: Biggest story of our times, yet very under-reported?“The fastest growing phenomenon of our time is not IT, but inequality. Yet, many reporting beats crucial to covering what’s happening have either been marginalised in or vanished from the media. The full-time labour reporter is nearly extinct. The ‘agriculture correspondent’ is mostly someone who covers the agriculture ministry and agri-business, not the farms. New inequalities are reinforcing the old and the gaps are growing…”

P SainathRural reporter, India


Poverty is a complex story… Many facets/dimensions Many levels and layers (economic, societal,

geographical, historical factors at work) Situations are changing fast (so beware of

outdated data or sociological research) Not all news is bad or bleak Some good news: We need to recognise &

amplify these No easy or simplistic solutions to poverty!


Simplistic solutions can’t fix it!

Cartoon by Stanislaus Olonde,Kenya


Tackling complexityExample 1: Farmer suicides

5,650 farmer suicides in India in 2014 (down from 18,241 in 2004, but still quite high)

Farmers are driven to desperation by various factors including: monsoon failures, high debt, bad govt policies, mental health issues & family problems, etc.


This complex story needs many inputs...

Official, verified data Survivor family intervus expert & activist views

for bigger pix context Political awareness journalist’s own

empathy ()


Look beyond news events.Ask what processes shape them.“Thousands of cotton farmers have committed suicide in India because of falling prices and indebtedness. But each suicide is covered as an event by the reporter in the crime beat, and not investigated as a trend. The causes are rarely analysed. How deep are journalists willing, or allowed, to dig for context?”

Kunda Dixit, Chief Editor & Publisher, Nepali Times


Example 2: problems faced by some (not all) migrant workers

100,000s of Lankan women going for skilled & unskilled work in Mid East since 1980s

Around 5% face problems: non-payment of wages, physical/sexual assaults, prison, murder, death sentence, etc.

Sometimes their children neglected and/or abused at home

Media & society tightly focused on these BUT they overlook: 100,000s who work

overseas, save money, return & uplift lives


Ban #lka women going overseas for work? Dr Sepali Kottegoda:

Source: http://kiyanna.lk/blog/2016/06/23/2759/


Dec 2015: Memes capturing public outrage in Sri Lanka against a migrant worker woman being sentenced to death by stoning in Saudi Arabia for alleged adultery (man sentenced to 100 lashes)


WHY do our women go to Mid East?Think hard before calling for bans!

Cartoon by Gihan de Chickera


Example 3 for complexity:Poverty & Alcohol nexus President Sirisena in June 2016:

“LKR 500m/day spent on tobacco & alcohol in Sri Lanka; poor spending 35% of their earnings on these”

Long-simmering debate in society: Do some people drink because

they’re poor? Or are they poor due to money

wasted on too much drinking?


Ravaya/Facebook discussion on poverty and drinking…

Started by researcher Krishan Siriwardhana Others joined with many viewpoints, incl:

Problem is not drinking per se but some spending too much of their earnings on it

Poverty-alcohol co-related, but NOT in a simple, linear (cause-and-effect) manner

Govts should not try to ‘nanny’ people’s choices & lifestyles sustained by own private money

Health education yes, but bans are ill-advised


Alcohol is a complex storyDon’t reduce it to YES/NO

Journalists should NOT bring own viewpoints for/against alcohol into reportage (except when writing opinion articles)

Journalistic discussions would be enriched if these look at: legal & illicit liquor; health & sociological impacts + captures views of regular alcohol users who happen to be poor


Poverty is ultimately about people’s everyday struggles…

Cartoon by Patrick Chappatte, International New York Times


Avoid “Poor Journalism” trap! Covering poverty in the media is much more

than a numbers game (even though statistics are an important part of it).

It requires an integrated approach that combines macro level factors with micro level insights.

More than anything else, it calls for journalists to keep an open & inquisitive mind, and an empathetic heart


Pathfinders 1:Palagummi Sainath

Indian journalist & photojournalist Has blazed new trails in covering social

& economic inequality, rural affairs, poverty & globalization

1993: Times of India fellowship: travelled back roads in 10 poorest districts of 5 Indian states: 100,000 km using 16 forms of transportation, incl. walking 5,000 km on foot over two years.


P Sainath investigates… Realities of education and healthcare in

rural India. How rural, small scale farmers are

trapped by debt, weather anomalies & uncertain market

How caste & bureaucracies are blocking rural poor from improving their lives.

Impacts of droughts & floods: how communities coped with these disruptions.


P Sainath: Going where few journalists care to travel…

Raised broader questions, e.g. rural people’s access to forests, & women’s right to income and property ownership

Won 2007 Magsaysay Award for his “passionate commitment as a journalist to restore the rural poor to India’s national consciousness.”


Pathfinder 2:Kalpana Sharma

“Journalists are simply good or bad, professional or unprofessional. I am not sure if other labels, such as ‘environmental’ or ‘developmental’, ought to be tagged on to journalists!”

Kalpana Sharma


Kalpana Sharma investigates…

Many issues like female infanticide, farmer suicides, religious fundamentalism and patriarchy

Particular focus on how it impacts women How invisible ‘superwomen’ (domestic

maids) hold India’s social fabric together Field reporting from disaster zones: how

these events magnify existing disparities


Probing urban poverty & resilience of poor in Mumbai

Equally concerned with Mumbai’s poverty, gender disparity, env. mismanagement and governance.

2000: wrote about Dharavi slum in Mumbai, Asia’s largest, looking at both its social inequalities and the people’s admirable resilience.

Better insight than Slumdog Millionaire movie (2008)


Sri Lanka’s own rural chronicler:Maya Ranjan (1913-1968)

While serving as a school teacher in rural areas of Sri Lanka in mid 20th century, Mahanama Rajapakse (using pseudonyum Maya Ranjan) wrote extensively about the realities he experienced. Though not strictly a journalist, he is a pathfinder of sorts for rural chronicling in local languages.


Lankan example: Benedict Dodampegama (1928 – 2004)

Outstanding feature writer for Silumina & Dinamina in 1950s-70s

Travelled across Lanka extensively, capturing many social, cultural & developmental stories

Wrote on North & East for Sinhala readers: vital cross-cultural bridge

Indigenous tribes, caste issues, etc. http://benedict-dodampegama.tripod.com/


What if poverty was seen & covered differently in media?

Among many ways of looking at it:Income inequality & social injustice Resilience of poor people Frugal innovation (so much with so little) Opportunities for social enterprise Human rights/human dignity issue Other angles?


Innovation @bottom of income pyramid (lots of good news!)

“One resource in which economically poor people may be rich is their knowledge and innovative potential. India’s Honey Bee Network has created a new benchmark in the field of scouting, documentation, dissemination, value addition, protection of IPR and benefit sharing.” – Dr Anil K Gupta


Capturing poverty in media: Different approaches

Data-driven: latest official statistics + researcher insights

Field-based: findings from field visits, talking to people coping with poverty & inequalities on a daily basis

Personalised: using a strong character to bring out issues (social activist, entrepreneur, uncommon public official)


Capturing poverty in media: Different approaches - 2

Travelogue: stories of journeys to rural AND urban areas, exploring subtle realities of poverty (told like a story, less analytical)

Photo/video explorations: In search of many faces of poverty, beyond stereotypes. Amplifying unheard voices.

Infographics: Bringing data and analysis into life, easy to understand


….and Cartoons!


Challenges in understanding and reporting on poverty… Beware of official data Also question academic & charity data: Watch out for ‘source manipulation’: Remember, people are not numbers: Avoid stereotyping: Consider gender perspectives Consider societal and cultural factors Things change (over time)


May you have inspiring explorations!

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twitter.com/NalakaGRavaya column archive nalakagunawardene.com/ravaya-column/

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going beyond poor journalism that ignores the poor - nalaka gunawardene

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