Journal Article Review
The poor population is always a focal point for the US government. The government has trying to reduce the poverty rate since 1960 significantly because the public started viewing poverty as a negative issue for society and the economy. To assist and reduce the poverty rates, the US government started the War on Poverty, and the percentage of government spending on poverty has been increased dramatically.
According to Rose and Baumgartner’s article “Framing the Poor: Media Coverage and U.S. Poverty Policy, 1960–2008”, the public’s opinion on poverty and poor people changed in the 1970s, and the media became to demonstrate poor people as lazy persons and cheaters. In 1976, Ronald Reagan stated that the US government provided too much assistance to reduce poverty which is rather useless because poor people rely on the help significantly.
Rose and Baumgartner develop the discussion of the public’s attitude to poverty during the period of 1960-2008 as it is reflected in the media with references to the US government’s policies realized. During the 1970s, the US media identified the provided poverty spending as a key element to reduce the US economy rates. The public saw the government as extremely generous about poverty. The article presents a lot of examples from the New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, and Chicago Tribune.
Rose and Baumgartner determined those negative viewpoints as frames to discuss the issues of poverty publicly, and they focused on the correlation between the size of spending and the discussion of the problem in media. The authors concluded that the spending on poverty was altered several times not only because of the economy’s potentials but also because of the public’s and government’s consideration of the issue.
Critique and Analysis
Although Rose and Baumgartner determine the main points for the discussion and sections in the first part of the article, the structure of the work cannot be discussed as well-organized. The introductory part of the article states the theme and the problem of the work. The authors concentrate on the discussion of the US government’s policies to reduce the poverty rates in the country in connection with the media covering the problem.
Rose and Baumgartner mention that the focus of the work is on frames used to discuss the issue of poverty during 1960-2008 and its connections with the alternations in realizing the government assistance. Thus, the article provides the quantitative indicators to discuss the aspects of the media coverage; the measures related to the degrees of poverty and spending during different periods; the statistical relation between the media framing and spending; and the developed Government Generosity Index.
According to the authors, the Government Generosity Index depends on such two factors as the media framing and the changes in the US government’s spending on poverty. Despite the fact the conclusion of the article about the direct connection between the media framing and the changes in the US government’s spending on poverty reflected in the Government Generosity Index is rather relevant, the article lacks the necessary detailed discussion of the quantitative information provided. There are a lot of graphs and tables in the article to support the correlation, but there is no detailed discussion of the numbers provided (Rose and Baumgartner).
The development of the article’s argument is based on the proper literature review and research of the media materials. Nevertheless, the purpose of the paper to state the correlation between the media framing (including negative opinions) and changes in the government’s spending is clear only from the final part of the article. Thus, the whole work provides a detailed discussion of the influential factors and frames, but the authors’ position is not stated clearly.
Opinions for Rewriting
The article includes significant evidence to support the main idea that the aspects of the media framing and changes in the government’s spending during 1960-2008 are correlated. Nevertheless, it is necessary to focus more on this idea to plan further discussion of the problem and provide the proper structure of the work according to the stages of supporting the argument.
The literature review and the wide research about the media are effective to provide the necessary evidence and draw conclusions about the correlation, but more explanation about different media frames should be presented. The authors have realized the significant research to illustrate the discussion of the poverty problem in the media with references to changes in the size of the government’s assistance, but more explanation is necessary.
Furthermore, the authors focus only on one aspect of the public debate on the issue, and to provide the complete picture of the social situation in connection with the public and private sectors of the economy, it is important to determine more indicators.
It is also possible to concentrate more on the public’s discussion of race, gender, and class questions as influential for speaking about the poverty issue. Moreover, further discussion of the determined five frames can contribute to identifying the direct correlation between the used indicators of the media coverage and the decline in the government’s spending or ‘generosity’.
Works Cited
Rose, Max, and Frank Baumgartner. “Framing the Poor: Media Coverage and U.S. Poverty Policy, 1960–2008”. Policy Studies Journal 41.1 (2013): 22–53. Print.