Giving a face to the invisible

“Giving a face and a voice to those who live in conditions of poverty: that’s how Vladimír Špidla, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, summed up the objective that Europe has set itself for 2010, European Year of the fight against poverty and social exclusion. The official website of the Year is www.2010againstpoverty.eu. During his intervention at the seminar on “Poverty: between reality and perception – the challenge of communication”, held in Brussels on 29 October, Špidla emphasized that “professionals of the media and communication are called to play a crucial role to contribute to the success of the fight against poverty and social exclusion”. Poverty is often invisible and has its worst effects on children (19 million children in Europe are living in situations of dire poverty), on immigrants and ethnic minorities, especially gipsies. “The challenge of 2010 – he declared – will be to reach the areas of Europe most badly affected by poverty such as rural areas, the most underprivileged quarters of our cities and Romany populations. That means placing communication at the centre of our work, and seeking the help of the whole system of the media”. The European Commissioner added that “it is of fundamental importance to reach out to European youth by using their preferred means of communication, namely, sms and social networks such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter”. Raising the awareness of public opinion. According to Anne Joubert, head of the “Integration and access to rights policy” unit of the French Ministry of Labour, Social Relations, Family, Solidarity and Urban Problems, “the role of journalists is very important for raising the awareness of, involving and informing public opinion about the phenomenon of poverty. In particular – explained Joubert – we are preparing specific reports for the press, and producing videos that describe and inform about the policies aimed at combating poverty implemented by the ministry. We also make a great deal of use of the internet as channel of communication”. On the same wavelength is Elise Willame, former chairperson of the Committee of Social Protection of the European Union, according to whom “with the involvement of the world of the media the Commission is proposing to change the image that citizens of the Union have of the poor, and it is for this reason that the current chairman of the social affairs commission is accustomed to holding ‘technical’ meetings, preferring to inform by entering into the nub of the questions”. According to Fintan Farrell, director of the European Anti-Poverty Network, “the media have in their power the chance to dispel stereotypes, by propagating a culture of greater attention to the poor. In other words we must create, with the help of the media, a strong movement of opinion that restores to the centre of the public attention the questions linked to poverty and social exclusion”. It became evident, in the course of the debate, that the media influence the relation that people have with the world, and consequently determine the perception they have of others and of society. “That’s why the media have a great task to perform”, stressed William Crawley, journalist of BBC Northern Ireland, recalling the “responsibility” of the media in “seeking and telling the truth”, a task in which it is essential, he said, to act with “extreme professionalism”. The experience of Great Britain. “It’s true, the media are always seeking real-life stories”, said Teresa Hanley of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (Great Britain), recalling a research project in July 2009 with the title “Poverty in the media” run by Fred Robinson, Richard Else, Maeve Sherlock and Ian Zass-Ogilvie of St Chad’s College of the University of Durham. From the survey it emerged that there is a widespread perception in the mass media that poverty functions only as history. In fact, journalists often turn to the tertiary sector to find suitable interlocutors, but many organizations, though thinking it’s a good opportunity to make others understand the reality of poverty, are diffident of the media and are concerned to protect individuals from any damage that may derive from exposure to the media. In response to this, the research suggested some strategies of conduct to manage most effectively relations with the press, such as having a better knowledge of the means of communication, of their sales channels, what type of readers they address, what type of questions will be asked, and whether the identity of the individual will be made public and whether there’s any possibility of checking the material before publication or transmission. The tertiary sector may also play an important role by helping people with experiences of poverty to use the internet to communicate their experiences to a far wider public, and thus create new social relations.