Module 3 Recap- Caterina
Oh man! This week was overwhelming! There was so much to read and studying for the midterm was a lot on top of it. I guess that is what we get for signing up for a summer class though right? How did you all do on the midterm? I know the short essays and short answer questions still need grading, but on the rest of it? I thought I did way better than I really did. I was disappointed in my score so far. I feel like I am barely hanging on here :(. Anyone else having any difficulties?
This module was pretty interesting! My whole view on poverty has completely changed. The main focus of this module was on Attention. I started off reading the article by Lankshear and Knobel (2001). They start off by talking a lot about Goldhaber and his idea that our economy is an attention economy instead of an information economy. “Attention, unlike information, is inherently scarce.” (Goldhaber 1998, Lankshear and Knobel 2001 p. 2) This was a quote that really stood out to me. It made me think about how what we think and our perspectives/ views are unique to us. Our world is filled with all kinds of information. Where people choose to focus their attention to is what they are saying is scarce. They then go into explaining Goldhaber’s six points. I really liked how they talked about Goldhaber’s opinions on stars and fans. I never really thought about the fact that one has to pay attention in order to get attention. It makes sense though. They say that ” Stars and performers pay ‘illusory attention’ to fans and audiences. They create the illusion that they are paying attention to each fan, to each member of their audience. Attention involves an exchange. ” (Lankshear and Knobel 2001 p. 4) Stars depend on their fans attention in order to succeed. It is the same thing with media broadcasters.
Media broadcasters such as news channels, depend on peoples attention too. They need to show the stories that will get them the most views. I have never really noticed that poverty is not shown in the media often. I guess I have always had blinders on when it comes to that topic. I grew up in a middle class household. Sure, I have seen people who are homeless, but I have never thought it was strange that poverty was not mentioned in the media. It wasn’t until reading the rest of the assigned readings in this module that my eyes were opened. As Simon Kuper talks about in the Poverty’s Poor Show in the Media article, people living in poverty are hardly ever shown in the media. He talks about how an actor by the name of Gerard Depardieu moved away from Belgium because the government tried to raise rich people’s taxes. Meanwhile, an unemployed father burned himself to death in despair of poverty. He says “guess which victim of the economic crisis got more publicity?” (Kuper 2013 p. 1) This article says that we do not see much poverty in the media because most journalists are upper- middle class folk. As humans, we like to interview people like us, this leaves people in poverty being left out from interviews. He also mentions that “Casting poor people as victims is boring.” (Kuper 2013 p.2) I really liked the last sentence of his article, “Morales aside: by ignoring the poor we are missing the economic story of the decade”. (Kuper 2013 p. 3) Just like I said my eyes have been open after all the readings we have done, I think this is something that everyone needs to do. Poverty has become a big issue. We don’t see it though due to the fact that the media doesn’t broadcast stories about poverty because it isn’t “popular” for them to do. The Fair Study article really proves this point. It summarizes how news stations fail to broadcast stories involving poverty. And the stories that they do broadcast do not use wisdom from people who live it first hand. They use information from “experts” and raw data mostly. It is sad that Michael Jackson received more coverage than stories about about poverty. There were just about 58 stories over the time length of 3 years on three network newscasts. Most of the media focuses on elderly people or in the armed forces, aka by The Fair Study as “deserving poor”. When in reality, they aren’t even the most at risk when it comes to living in poverty.
The Fair Study article says “The poorest age group is children, with more than one in six living in official poverty at any given time.”(Neil De Mause & Steve Rendall 2007 p1.) Yet, they rarely have reports done on them to show the big issue happening. According to the Basic Facts about Low Income Children Fact Sheet, “Children under 18 years represent 23 percent of the population, but they comprise 33 percent of all people in poverty. Among all children, 44 percent live in low-income families and approximately one in every five (22 percent) live in poor families”. I think because there is such a lack of stories promoting the awareness of the amount of children living in low income or poverty is helping make the issue worse. I think that if people had more awareness they would be able to reach out and help more. A lot of people don’t want to help, but I think that is because they do not know how much these children are suffering. After watching Childhood Poverty (Children’s Defense Fund 2016) which was a video involving children living in poverty, I was heartbroken. The video shows many different children telling their own experiences about how their family has suffered. One little girl talks about how her father left her family and her mother is on disability, so they have a hard time living. Another young girl talks about how they would not have food to eat and how she went from a size 5 waist to a size 0. That makes me feel so bad for these children. I couldn’t imagine going through that. Like I mentioned earlier in my writing, I never realized it was as big of an issue as it really is. My parents never informed me of the issues and I never opened up my eyes to witness it. I have been very privileged and lucky my whole life.
In our text book, we covered readings about violence being connected to video games. I always blamed video games for my little brother acting out. Have any of you found yourselves blaming media for issues going on? I think we are all a little guilty of that. I learned though, that there are many other risk factors that lead to violence other than violent video games. These risks include “substance use, overly authoritarian or lax parenting, delinquent peers, neighborhood violence, and weak ties to one’s family or community.” (Karen Sternheimer 2013 p. 108) It is easy to blame violent video games for these behaviors. “When news accounts neglect to provide the full context, it appears as though media viollence is the most compelling explanatory factor.” (Karen Sternheimer 2013 p.114) This is just more proof that the newscasters don’t care to get the whole story. They often just get a story out there without researching or offering information and wisdom. Children who live in poverty are more likely to participate in violent acts because they are more exposed to the risk factors. We just rarely hear about it because it is more common. However, it it were to be a middle class white youth, the media would jump all over it because incidents in the middle class community are more rare. So when something happens it is a big deal.
Ending Childhood Poverty (Children’s Defense Fund 2016) was a good article with a lot of facts about what our society and government can do to help improve and put a stop to childhood poverty. I think that it is something that really needs to be focused on and the media should help make more apparent. I think the children are suffering a lot. Because they are the next generation, if they are suffering, that means our society is going to suffer.
Overall, I feel like I learned a lot in this module. I feel like I have a better understanding about the big issue of poverty. I am definitely more aware and I am going to do what I can to help out. I hope that as a future teacher, I am able to encourage my students to make a difference. I also hope that I will be able to reach out and help any of my students who live in poverty. Whether it be by helping with food or clothes or anything. I feel that as long as I can impact one child’s life, I will be making a difference- even if it is a little one.
