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

[Elizabeth502]

Where am I practicing hand-wringing or guilt-tripping?

Maybe by opening multiple threads about this topic, and always as if to suggest that Catholics alone are responsible for an instant solution to this, and even more unrealistically, that there is a simple solution. There is not, as I have said 3 times now.

Where am I practicing hand-wringing or guilt-tripping? Both accusations are very presumptuous on your part. Is my bringing up the need of the media to openly report these crimes guilt-tripping or hand-wringing?

My comments were not based on presumptions. I’m deducing from your persistence on this topic (this is not your first similar thread), as if CAF members are somehow ignorant about the topic (notice your frequent posting of thumbnails --the usual emotional, and yes – guilt-tripping-- commentary via visuals), and as if you need to inform us or badger us about supposedly solving this enormous and complex problem. The frequency with which you open threads about it comes close to agenda-posting, i.m.o.

As two of us have asked you, what are you doing about it? (Why do you keep asking everybody else what they’re doing about it?)

 

[Robert_Sock]

Maybe by opening multiple threads about this topic, and always as if to suggest that Catholics alone are responsible for an instant solution to this, and even more unrealistically, that there is a simple solution. There is not, as I have said 3 times now.

Where, Elizabeth, did I ever say that Catholics are only responsible. Come on, provide the readers with a quote!!!

My comments were not based on presumptions. I’m deducing from your persistence on this topic (this is not your first similar thread), as if CAF members are somehow ignorant about the topic (notice your frequent posting of thumbnails --the usual emotional, and yes – guilt-tripping-- commentary via visuals), and as if you need to inform us or badger us about supposedly solving this enormous and complex problem. The frequency with which you open threads about it comes close to agenda-posting, i.m.o.

So my use of a few thumbnails is guilt-tripping? Report me to the moderators if you think I’m agenda-posting, but please, do not slander me!!!

As two of us have asked you, what are you doing about it? (Why do you keep asking everybody else what they’re doing about it?)

Where, Elizabeth, did I ever ask anybody what they are doing about it??? Please provide the readers with a quote!!! Is it yours, or anybody else’s business what I’m doing to promote the welfare of those living in extreme poverty??? I’m writing threads to bring the problem to light!!! What are you doing, besides trying your best to slander me for doing a good deed???

 

[Elizabeth502]

Where, Elizabeth, did I ever say that Catholics are only responsible. Come on, provide the readers with a quote!!!

So my use of a few thumbnails is guilt-tripping? Report me to the moderators if you think I’m agenda-posting, but please, do not slander me!!!

Where, Elizabeth, did I ever ask anybody what they are doing about it??? Please provide the readers with a quote!!! Is it yours, or anybodies else’s business what I’m doing to promote the welfare of those living in extreme poverty??? I’m writing threads to bring the problem to light!!! What are you doing, besides trying your best to slander me for doing a good deed???

I’m not “slandering” you, Robert. I’m drawing valid suppositions from the frequency and one-note theme of your postings. You have opened a minimum of 8 threads in the last 2 months on the same theme. My question and SamH’s question is a fair question, i.m.o., given that you repeatedly ask others to solve enormous global problems but then neither provide solutions yourself nor indicate what you are doing (other than what is informally and commonly referred to as “hand-wringing.”) That’s not an insult or a “slander.” It is a logical conclusion, derived directly from your methods and your approach. But you don’t want to answer the very questions you raise. Generally, when people open threads, it is hopefully more than just to rant/vent. Now, I understand the impulse to do that, but the problem is that lacking a follow-up on your part, it doesn’t come across as constructive, but rather demanding toward others.

That’s all I’m saying. No desire to “slander.”
Peace.

 

[Robert_Sock]

I’m not “slandering” you, Robert. I’m drawing valid suppositions from the frequency and one-note theme of your postings. You have opened a minimum of 8 threads in the last 2 months on the same theme. My question and SamH’s question is a fair question, i.m.o., given that you repeatedly ask others to solve enormous global problems but then neither provide solutions yourself nor indicate what you are doing (other than what is informally and commonly referred to as “hand-wringing.”) That’s not an insult or a “slander.” It is a logical conclusion, derived directly from your methods and your approach. But you don’t want to answer the very questions you raise. Generally, when people open threads, it is hopefully more than just to rant/vent. Now, I understand the impulse to do that, but the problem is that lacking a follow-up on your part, it doesn’t come across as constructive, but rather demanding toward others.

That’s all I’m saying. No desire to “slander.”
Peace.

Care to list these eight threads? Care to provide quotes for my above questions?

 

[Robert_Sock]

Can we please get back on track and and address the key question of the thread: What are the media’s moral obligations in making society aware of extreme poverty in the world?

 

[Robert_Sock]

How many people know that an estimated 3.5 million innocent children die of starvation each and every year? Where’s the media?

Imagine all the unnecessary pain and heartache!

 

[CompSciGuy]

The media is a business. They report what brings in the money. In a free-market system, they have a right to do this. As a business of course they are going to cater to their audience. If you don’t like what the media is doing, then it is up to you (the viewer) to give your feedback. Don’t support that news corporation, don’t click on their ads, give them bad ratings and feedback. If enough people do this then the media will change.

That being said, I don’t think it is accurate to say that the media has not discussed world poverty many times over the years…

 

[CompSciGuy]

Imagine all the unnecessary pain and heartache!

And the media has the power to stop the unnecessary pain and heartache through reporting? If the media reports on global poverty (which it does) then the best that can do is alert us to the problem. It cannot solve the problem. Nor do we, the public, have the power to make this problem magically go away.

 

[Jozefo]

And the media has the power to stop the unnecessary pain and heartache through reporting? If the media reports on global poverty (which it does) then the best that can do is alert us to the problem. It cannot solve the problem. Nor do we, the public, have the power to make this problem magically go away.

Not go away completely, but we could greatly mitigate the problem by using interest free money.

 

[SamH]

And the media has the power to stop the unnecessary pain and heartache through reporting? If the media reports on global poverty (which it does) then the best that can do is alert us to the problem. It cannot solve the problem. Nor do we, the public, have the power to make this problem magically go away.

That’s why I keep asking Gary what he does to help solve the problem - but he doesn’t want to answer.

 

[SamH]

Not go away completely, but we could greatly mitigate the problem by using interest free money.

Have you really thought that one through?

 

[Robert_Sock]

The media is a business. They report what brings in the money. In a free-market system, they have a right to do this. As a business of course they are going to cater to their audience. If you don’t like what the media is doing, then it is up to you (the viewer) to give your feedback. Don’t support that news corporation, don’t click on their ads, give them bad ratings and feedback. If enough people do this then the media will change.

That being said, I don’t think it is accurate to say that the media has not discussed world poverty many times over the years…

Do the media have a moral obligation to report crimes against humanity? Would they have a moral obligation to report the Holocaust if it was happening today? Both the Holocaust and extreme poverty are crimes against humanity.

Imagine how the ratings of the news networks might raise by reporting the news in an unbiased, truthful manner.

Could the real reason for not reporting on extreme poverty be that it’s not yet politically correct?

 

[gracepoole]

Here’s something interesting – I’ve provided an excerpt but the whole article applies to this discussion:

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism indexed stories in 52 major mainstream news outlets from 2007 through the first half of 2012 and, according to Mark Jurkowitz, the project’s associate director, “in no year did poverty coverage even come close to accounting for as little as one percent of the news hole. It’s fair to say that when you look at that particular topic, it’s negligible.”

Instead, as Tampa Bay Times media critic Eric Deggans notes, at most news organizations poverty comes up sporadically. “Poverty becomes a sort of ‘very special episode’ of journalism that we sort of roll out every so often,” he says.

The reasons for the lack of coverage are familiar. Journalists are drawn more to people making things happen than those struggling to pay bills; poverty is not considered a beat; neither advertisers nor readers are likely to demand more coverage, so neither will editors; and poverty stories are almost always enterprise work, requiring extra time and commitment. Yet persistent poverty is in some ways the ultimate accountability story—because, often, poverty happens by design.

nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/102832/It-Cant-Happen-Here.aspx

 

[Jozefo]

Have you really thought that one through?

Yes. Our monetary system technically is voluntary. No one is forced to use dollars, but there is a great amount of coercion to use it. That being said, if enough people decided to trade among themselves without using dollars, then the usury system could be avoided, and people could get the things they need.

It’s nothing more than organized and cooperative bartering. Stay away from valuing things in dollars, and it’s entirely legal.

 

[SamH]

Yes. Our monetary system technically is voluntary. No one is forced to use dollars, but there is a great amount of coercion to use it. That being said, if enough people decided to trade among themselves without using dollars, then the usury system could be avoided, and people could get the things they need.

It’s nothing more than organized and cooperative bartering. Stay away from valuing things in dollars, and it’s entirely legal.

Lots of stuff is “legal”, it doesn’t make it a good idea though.

 

[CompSciGuy]

Do the media have a moral obligation to report crimes against humanity? Would they have a moral obligation to report the Holocaust if it was happening today? Both the Holocaust and extreme poverty are crimes against humanity.

Imagine how the ratings of the news networks might raise by reporting the news in an unbiased, truthful manner.

Could the real reason for not reporting on extreme poverty be that it’s not yet politically correct?

Can you give a specific example of a country that suffers from extreme poverty and the news media does not report on it, or on its causes?

 

[Jozefo]

Lots of stuff is “legal”, it doesn’t make it a good idea though.

It’s a good idea for many reasons. it puts control of the money back into the hands of the people who give money its value. All these poverty stricken people around the world are being held hostage by usury. This is one solution that works.

 

[Robert_Sock]

Can you give a specific example of a country that suffers from extreme poverty and the news media does not report on it, or on its causes?

Can you provide a country where this is not the case? How about homelessness here in America, the starvation in Africa and the extreme poverty in India? The poverty and its causes are hardly, if ever, touched upon in the media. When was the last time you saw a photo like that attached on the nightly news?

 

[migueltojose]

• …"The reasons for the lack of coverage are familiar. Journalists are drawn more to people making things happen than those struggling to pay bills; poverty is not considered a beat; neither advertisers nor readers are likely to demand more coverage, so neither will editors; and poverty stories are almost always enterprise work, requiring extra time and commitment. Yet persistent poverty is in some ways the ultimate accountability story—because, often, poverty happens by design. " …*

**There was a lot of coverage in the sixties and early seventies… have we become a less Christian nation? Have we become calloused? Narcissistic? Hopeless? (i.e. Live for today because there may not be a tomorrow.)

I’d say these are a few of the reasons. Also, it was intense for several years in the sixties and we may have just become fatigued. I think we can also always relate our social maladies back to abortion.

I think we can see two separate America’s… pre '73 and post '73…**

 

[Jozefo]

I think we can see two separate America’s… pre '73 and post '73…

I agree with this. There are several milestones in American history where certain events have had a powerful effect on people, and Rowe v Wade is one of those. I still think the Court’s decision was brought on by a corrupt money system, but that ruling marked a turning point that highlighted the downward moral spiral the US government has fallen victim to.