What are the media’s moral obligations in making society aware of extreme poverty in the world?

[gracepoole]

Those who own multiple house, cars, etc. provide jobs to those who build the those things.

Do you mean that people who build things for other people are not paid for their jobs or that there are people that would rather do without then to pay someone to do something for them?

It sounds like you’re describing trickle-down economics – those who have more capital are able to provide jobs for those lower down on the ladder. People who build second, third, and fourth houses are paid for their efforts – but they’ll never own even a fraction of the wealth owned by those who bought the extra, unnecessary houses. And of course, they take the brunt of the hits in terms of taxes.

 

[tabycat]

It sounds like you’re describing trickle-down economics – those who have more capital are able to provide jobs for those lower down on the ladder. People who build second, third, and fourth houses are paid for their efforts – but they’ll never own even a fraction of the wealth owned by those who bought the extra, unnecessary houses. And of course, they take the brunt of the hits in terms of taxes.

Steve Jobs, Paul Allen, Bill Gates, and the founders of Facebook did not start out rich by any means. The first woman millionair, C.J. Walker, was a freed slave. You cannot get poorer then that!

Oh by the way, the lower 50% of ‘tax payers’ pay less then 10% of the income tax.

 

[ncashion]

Do you mean by the taxes paid by the ‘rich’ (those who have more then you do)? I do not know about you, but if I had to choose between being payed by someone who hired me to do a job for them or a ‘pay check’ from the ‘urban renewal projects’ (ie the government) if I did my ‘job’ or not, I would choose the former and not the latter one. Less taxes per person paid all around.

Agreed!!!

 

[gracepoole]

Steve Jobs, Paul Allen, Bill Gates, and the founders of Facebook did not start out rich by any means. The first woman millionair, C.J. Walker, was a freed slave. You cannot get poorer then that!

Oh by the way, the lower 50% of ‘tax payers’ pay less then 10% of the income tax.

Um, those are the exceptions not the rule.

 

[St_Francis]

Well…

On the one hand, 40% of Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants or their children. For example Hatrz pet supplies company was started by an immigrant who sold carnaries door-to-door.

And 70% of those on the Fortune 400 are self-made multi-billionaires.

On the other hand, the high pay for CEOs was a strategy suggested many years ago (can’t find the source for that so will have to go with read it on the internet so it must be true ) and is now called performance-based executive compensation, and it appears that a lot of people think it is out of hand, given the number of articles in places like Forbes and WSJ critical of the process, so hopefully it will diminish in the future… of course, that’s difficult to do because of the competition.

 

[tabycat]

Um, those are the exceptions not the rule.

They are not the exceptions, they just made more the most of ‘rich’. Most people, rich or poor, do not stay that way,in the US. I have known people who rich compared to me, or most of the posters on this board, and I have known that were poorer. Being rich/well off or poor is relative. The ones I mentioned were ones that most on this board would know of,

 

[gracepoole]

They are not the exceptions, they just made more the most of ‘rich’. Most people, rich or poor, do not stay that way,in the US. I have known people who rich compared to me, or most of the posters on this board, and I have known that were poorer. Being rich/well off or poor is relative. The ones I mentioned were ones that most on this board would know of,

Being rich or poor is relative? The folks you listed aren’t exceptions? Well, then – let’s just let it go.

 

[Robert_Sock]

The Holocaust involved acual crime. It was the crime of murder. There were trials and convictions. There were people who committed evil acts. Poverty is not trivial. but the comparison to the Holocaust is so thin as to be almost non-existent. They are both “bad”. That’s about it.

What about the African dictators who willingly starve their citizens? You hear about the Syrian government committing crimes against its citizens all the time, and now we may be going to war with them over their use of chemical weapons which we say was a crime against humanity (with plenty of pictures in the news to back it up), but we hardly hear anything about the crimes against humanity committed by the African dictators (with no photos or claims that their actions are a crime against humanity). Do you call this fair and just reporting of the news by the media?

 

[Robert_Sock]

Well…

On the one hand, 40% of Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants or their children. For example Hatrz pet supplies company was started by an immigrant who sold carnaries door-to-door.

And 70% of those on the Fortune 400 are self-made multi-billionaires.

On the other hand, the high pay for CEOs was a strategy suggested many years ago (can’t find the source for that so will have to go with read it on the internet so it must be true ) and is now called performance-based executive compensation, and it appears that a lot of people think it is out of hand, given the number of articles in places like Forbes and WSJ critical of the process, so hopefully it will diminish in the future… of course, that’s difficult to do because of the competition.

Numbers!!! For every one that makes it rich, there are millions and millions that remain in poverty!

 

[tabycat]

Being rich or poor is relative? The folks you listed aren’t exceptions? Well, then – let’s just let it go.

Yes, being rich or poor canbe relative. Most people in the US are rich when compared to most people in say Cuba or China or North Korea.

 

[pnewton]

Do you call this fair and just reporting of the news by the media?

No, but neither do I call it unfair and unjust. I find it hard to judge something omitted. Too many variables are involved.

 

[Robert_Sock]

No, but neither do I call it unfair and unjust. I find it hard to judge something omitted. Too many variables are involved.

We’re talking about crimes against humanity here? How can the media turn a blind eye to it?

Can you at least prove the key variables that you are referring to? I would like to hear them, and maybe I could be enlightened!

Can you imagine the media not reporting on the atrocities committed against the Jews in WWII?

 

[ishii]

What about the African dictators who willingly starve their citizens? You hear about the Syrian government committing crimes against its citizens all the time, and now we may be going to war with them over their use of chemical weapons which we say was a crime against humanity (with plenty of pictures in the news to back it up), but we hardly hear anything about the crimes against humanity committed by the African dictators (with no photos or claims that their actions are a crime against humanity). Do you call this fair and just reporting of the news by the media?

Maybe this is because there is a ban on Chemical Weapons which Syria appears to have violated. WMD’s (or the belief that Iraq had them) helped start the Iraq War. I think there is a sense of apathy about the situation in Africa. I mean, what are we to do about the starving there - go invade and topple the dictators who are starving their people? Everyone knows that people are starving in Africa - it is a known fact. The media reports what is news. And the events in Syria are news.

Ishii

 

[Robert_Sock]

Maybe this is because there is a ban on Chemical Weapons which Syria appears to have violated. WMD’s (or the belief that Iraq had them) helped start the Iraq War. I think there is a sense of apathy about the situation in Africa. I mean, what are we to do about the starving there - go invade and topple the dictators who are starving their people? Everyone knows that people are starving in Africa - it is a known fact. The media reports what is news. And the events in Syria are news.

Ishii

If we want to topple the Syrian government over a crime against humanity, why not topple the African dictators over their crimes against humanity?

So the media has no responsibility to report the news in Africa? What makes the news in the Middle-East more important than the news in Africa? Oil?

 

[pnewton]

Can you imagine the media not reporting on the atrocities committed against the Jews in WWII?

They didn’t during most of the war report the atrocities. They did not know of them. Knowledge is one variable. Access and control are other variables. Have you made a news broadcast of every evil situation in the world? If not, why not?

I still think all your Nazi talk is a very poor comparison.

BTW - You have yet to show where the Catholic Church has said that all news people have a moral obligation to report on poverty.

 

[gracepoole]

They didn’t during most of the war report the atrocities. They did not know of them.

Well… Actually one can find many NY Times’ articles from the period in which the violence against Jews was well documented. Jews in NY publicly begged for boycotts against German goods as a result of what they knew of the situation in Europe. And there was allied aerial photography that identified Auschwitz – I’ve never heard of any credible means to dispute American knowledge of its location and purpose. It was not considered a military target, unfortunately, and was therefore not bombed (much to the dismay of prisoners there, who prayed for a bombing no matter the outcome). I’m not saying the Holocaust analogy is apt – just pointing out that the U.S. had quite a bit of intel regarding Nazi atrocities and chose not to act in many circumstances.

 

[Robert_Sock]

They didn’t during most of the war report the atrocities. They did not know of them. Knowledge is one variable. Access and control are other variables. Have you made a news broadcast of every evil situation in the world? If not, why not?

I still think all your Nazi talk is a very poor comparison.

BTW - You have yet to show where the Catholic Church has said that all news people have a moral obligation to report on poverty.

The media is certainly aware of the atrocities being committed in these African nations!

BTW: Show me where the Catholic Church teaches that the media does not have the moral obligation to report these atrocities? (Hopefully in the near future Pope Francis will address this most important issue!)

 

[pnewton]

Jews in NY publicly begged for boycotts against German goods as a result of what they knew of the situation in Europe.

During the war? Was buying German goods really done during WWII?

 

[St_Francis]

If we want to topple the Syrian government over a crime against humanity, why not topple the African dictators over their crimes against humanity?

So the media has no responsibility to report the news in Africa? What makes the news in the Middle-East more important than the news in Africa? Oil?

The media reports as news stuff that is *new *–they report on changes. There is little reporting done on an on-going situation unless changes occur.

For example, altho there was great interest generated about the Zimmerman case, in between the initial reports and the trial, very little was reported because nothing changed. In the same way, we are aware in the background of what Mugabwe is doing because it was reported when it started, but since not much has changed, it’s not in the news.

 

[Robert_Sock]

The media reports as news stuff that is *new *–they report on changes. There is little reporting done on an on-going situation unless changes occur.

For example, altho there was great interest generated about the Zimmerman case, in between the initial reports and the trial, very little was reported because nothing changed. In the same way, we are aware in the background of what Mugabwe is doing because it was reported when it started, but since not much has changed, it’s not in the news.

If the Holocaust was happening today, but the horrors were not changing over time, would not the media still have an obligation to report it? Would not the media have the moral obligation to label it as a crime against humanity? Would not the media be obligated to repeatedly show images of the atrocities the way we were flooded with images of the chemical warfare in Syria? Come on! Did you ever hear the media declare that the starvation in Africa was a crime against humanity? Did you ever see images of the starving children on any of the major networks? When was the last time any of the major networks reported the statistics of starvation, such as 3.5 million children dying of starvation each and every year?!

Would not our government have the moral responsibility to intervene if the Holocaust was happening today?