I have a serious question for DUers

[malaise]

Why do we never see the American poor on TV unless there's a disaster in their neighbourhoods. Is that deliberate policy by M$M?

[Warpy]

1. Yes, They're there to sell products, not reflect reality

and there's only so much product placement you can do in poor folks' homes.

You need to show upper middle class families to push the matched furniture, fad appliance colors, and new technology.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I imagine it is

[enlightenment]

3. I think you should, perhaps, compare US TV to other nations

before deciding on the reasons.

I don't know the answer to your question, but I've never gotten any sense from TV in any country I've visited that they spend a lot of time examining the lives of the poor or making fictional shows about them.

"Working class" is about as low as most want to go.

[malaise]

6. The working class are the poor

We see stories about the poor quite often. Journalists go into their communities to speak about the deplorable conditions. Indeed politicians even create ads showing the state of opposition constituencies.

It's like there's a blackout on their lives.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

4. I can only offer my theory

Americans don't like to see the reality of poverty in America. The media is beholden to their advertisers who won't spend money on a program people don't watch. If they air the truth about poverty in America many people are likely to look to another media outlets that shows the latest on Britney, or some other type of feel good story.

If some people don't have to view realty they can pretend it doesn't exist.

[Rosemary2205]

5. "Cops" is on everyday here.

and I think Maury is still doing those paternity tests...........

In all seriousness, I think the MSM, like every other industry, is going to be geared toward what makes money. Since most of the people who have time to sit around and watch TV are at least lower middle class, there's not much of an incentive to spend a lot of time on extreme poverty as a form of entertainment. Middle, and lower middle folks don't really want to be reminded of where they will end up if they miss just one or two paychecks.

[malaise]

7. Funny how that's what M$M believes people want to see

about themselves. I'd like to see a special on how they survive.

[EFerrari]

9. A friend of mine produces"Cops". When Mike Moore asked him

what it would take to put white collar criminals into the same frame, he said they need to take their shirts off and run in traffic. I think that was in "Bowling for Columbine".

Yes, the market is for really stupid stuff.

[kimmerspixelated]

10. I think it's interesting, too, that sitcoms in general

never revolve around any real struggling families these days.Apparently, they don't seem to exist at all. I'm trying to recall the last show I ever saw where someone even said, "we can't afford that!" ..or something like that. The Honeymooners, were obviously pretty poor folks, and so were the characters from Good Times.
But those aired so long ago in prime time. Oddly, it's only just occasionally those shows even show up on TVLAND anymore. The MSM doesn't want to put a microscope on anything so embaressing (in their eyes) as a poverty stricken or struggling American family.

[malaise]

13. That's what I'm thinking

The illusion must be kept up at all costs. It's sad and it also hurts those who cannot keep up with the consumer madness. It wasn't always that way.

[mitchtv]

8. No stories on Latin America or Gays either

Bad Mexican illegals ok , but not much more

[malaise]

18. No Gays have a better chance of being included

on TV than poor families but of course there are no poor Gays.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Your perception is correct, and that's in contrast to other countries

For example, there's a soap opera in the UK called East Enders, which is seen on some public TV stations. It's about working class people in a London neighborhood, and they aren't glamorized in any way. They're not street people, but they're not all doctors and lawyers and business executives, either.

Japan, too, is more likely to portray social class distinction. When I was teaching Japanese, I used one videotaped crime drama episode in particular, because it showed the contrast between the lives of the middle class and the poor realistically. Even when the story and characters are all middle class, there's an effort to portray the actual settings and situations that middle class people would find them in.

This is in contrast to U.S. TV, where fictional characters are nearly always comfortable middle class.

Accustomed to realistic portrayals on their own TV programs, some of my Japanese friends thought that all Americans lived in luxury, judging from the U.S. programs that were shown there.

[malaise]

16. Great post

Many of my students believe everyone in America is rich

[cosmik debris]

12. Duh! it is quite simple

TV is in the entertainment industry.

Poverty is not entertaining.

Did that require a genius to figure out?

[cornermouse]

14. Poor people aren't pretty.

A lot of the time, they're not necessarily healthy. They aren't model thin and they aren't what we all want to be. That's why we never see poor people on tv.

[malaise]

17. But doesn't that destroy them psychologically

if they never see their own portrayed on TV.

[cornermouse]

19. Probably.

You plan to do something to change it? Probably the closest we've ever been to people who didn't have the potential to be a model or a playboy centerfold was the Roseanne Show.

[malaise]

25. Good Times was pretty good

and as crass as Archie Bunker was, he was real. Norman Lear was pretty good.

[cornermouse]

26. Yep.

I didn't think of either of those, but yes, you're right. Archie Bunker was priceless in that he could point out just how nuts the ultra conservative stance was and still is.

[BlooInBloo]

15. I can see poor people just by going outside. Do I have to have every part of my life...

... inundated with them? (Same goes for ugly ppl on teevee.)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

27. Yes, your "beautiful mind"

[spanone]

20. wish i knew.

[Octafish]

21. Poor people make bad ratings.

Bad ratings mean reduced advertising revenues.

On another level:

No poor on TV means America spends less time thinking about Congress stripping out social programs on behalf of the empire's perpetual war.

[malaise]

24. That's why I raised the issue

Escapism eliminates thinking about real issues.

[mrbluto]

22. Poor? Not just the poor....

...who does any work on TV?

Doctors, lawyers, police and....who?

It's mainly "will he live", "blame" and "whodunnit?"

And look at where they all live. There's three basic modes with an occasional hint of regional flavor. It's either a place few of us could afford, or someplace so opulent we could barely imagine it, or pointedly lower class - no in between really.

Most of TV is a perfect blend of escapism that somehow instills us with an appetite to consume.

But hey, TV programing has to dance with them's that brung 'em to the ball.

Advertisers.

Imagine programing that made you think about your situation realistically and prompted you to consume less - how long would that show last? Take a wild guess.

TV is an instrument with which power installs in the general populous a twisted map.

No wonder there's such a move to insist on tiered gate-keeping on the intertubes.

It's hard to take a stand or make progress if it's a chore just to know where you are or where you might go, never mind convince anyone else of these things.

p.s.: remember - any abuse of authority is instigated by a few rotten apples, until, of course, you'd like to undermine the idea of civil government, then it's all mindless bureaucracy and black helicopters. Same thing really - no middle ground.

[malaise]

23. Nice post

Still I wonder if the exclusion of such a large section of the population has led to the massive alienation of so many people.

Do this think this explains UTube's popularity since people can show their own lives and interests?

Add.

[Horse with no Name]

28. It's because the politicians never make THEM an issue

and since the politicians send the directives to the MSM...so there you go.
MSM is also who killed the chances of the only candidates that would have made the poor an issue and given them a platform.