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Homeless problem is one of the main problems affected the American community. For a common citizen, it is difficult to define and understand the scope of this problem and its real impact on community. Mainstream and alternative media present different facts and figures about homeless people in America, their conditions and social policies. Homeless families (i.e., homeless households that include at least one adult with at least one child under age eighteen) have received much attention in large part because the presence of children among the homeless confronts us most directly with society’s failure to guarantee a minimum standard of protection. In many cases, mainstream media has stressed limitations of political and social reforms while alternative media portrays diversity of homeless people and their problems.
Different definitions account for different numbers of homeless people in the United States and involves two concepts: time and place. For example, some authors define the homeless as those who sleep in emergency shelters or places not usually used for shelters, such as parks and cars (Skeels 2007; Most people think 2007). Some authors consider short-term homelessness while others consider long-term, chronic homelessness in their definitions. Recent data based on a national survey estimated that up to 7% (13.5 million) of the United States population have experienced literal homelessness (sleeping in shelters, bus and train stations, abandoned buildings) at some time during their lifetime, 3.1% over the past 5 years. This study also reported a lifetime and five year prevalence for all types of homelessness (Cooper 2007). “The next highest perceived cause: mental illness, a mental disability or post-traumatic stress disorder, at 67%. Also high on the list were insufficient income and job loss, at 67% and 65%, respectively” (Emergency shelters near capacity 2007).
Mainstream media portrays homeless problem as a result of inadequate social and political reforms. They underline increasing number of homeless families and children around the country. “The report is the government’s latest attempt to count people who are notoriously difficult to track. The estimate is similar to one by an advocacy group in January” (Emergency shelters near capacity 2007). The trend is an increase in the number of homeless in the United States. Although the numbers vary in research studies, there are more homeless today than in the 1960s and early 1970s. Another trend is an increasing number of women. Women make up about 22% of the total, an increase from 5% several years ago. The age of the homeless is decreasing. The population once was comprised of older men who were chronic alcoholics but today the mean age is middle thirties.
In contrast to these views, alternative media underlines that the risk factors work to make the family especially vulnerable to being forced to leave their housing, which then forces them to face the structural factors of too few affordable units for poor families, which then makes them homeless. When the homeless families were compared to the poor-but-housed families, it was found that the mothers of the homeless families were more likely to have been in foster-care placement and to have had a female caregiver who used drugs. In their adult lives they had lived in the area for a shorter period of time. They were also more likely to be African American or Puerto Rican. Factors that prevented homelessness for the poor families were linked with the mother’s being a primary tenant (her name was on the lease), receiving monetary housing subsidies, and having a larger social network (Skeels 2007, Cooper 2000).
In contrast to homeless men, homeless children garnered little attention in mainstream media, in part because their numbers were small and in part because a characteristic survival strategy of homeless women is to keep hidden from view. The term “single” here encompasses a wide variety of situations and reflects a wide array of needs “These statistics and the growing gap between rich and poor led the usually cautious United Way to issue a tough-minded report last year with the pointedly provocative title A Tale of Two Cities: Promise and Peril in Los Angeles” (Cooper 2000). Single may include women who have never been married, young women without children, women whose children are living in foster homes or with other family members, elderly women, heterosexual women, and lesbian women. Mainstream media underlines that the number of minorities among the homeless has increased (Skeels 2007).
Historically, homeless men were often assumed to be inhabitants of the skid rows of U.S. cities, which were usually neighborhoods containing cheap lodging for transient and marginally employed (and sometimes alcoholic) men. “At the rate the city is cleansing skid row’s street population through imprisonment or displacement, one might wonder if the delay in those funds is intentional” (Skeels 2007). Much of the single-room-occupancy housing in skid rows has been torn down in the urban renewal programs, and in the process of gentrification of the 1990s. The irony here is that having access to an inexpensive room with a key in a convenient location, and in the company of other single men (i.e., very much like the old skid row), is the ideal to which many of the most innovative supportive housing programs for the homeless now aspire (Emergency shelters near capacity 2007).
The main difference between mainstream and alternative media representation is high level of bias typical for mainstream media. Very often, mainstream media briefly explores the political, economic and social background against which these changes have happened in order to reveal the complexity of the interactions between wider changes in society. It argues that although audiences today have alternatives to the public broadcaster; the diversity and quality of television program supply continue to be restricted by market forces because the mainstream channels follow the successful formula and provide very similar schedules, conspicuously lacking distinction and imagination. In contrast, alternative media is aimed to provide independent research based on real data and theoretical analysis of the cases and outcomes (Emergency shelters near capacity 2007; Most people think 2007). For instance, the main equations addressed by alternative media are who these families are, how they became homeless, and how we may prevent and ameliorate their homelessness carry a certain urgency with them (Emergency shelters near capacity 2007; Most people think 2007; Cooper 2000).
Recent years, mainstream media policies brought an influx of low-quality, low-budget programming around mass-viewing entertainment formats. Increasing pressures for audience maximization not only augmented the amount of entertainment but also fostered a trend in the direction of infotainment which particularly affected sports programming. Although, the bulk of the mainstream media is generalist in character. In contrast to independent media, the task of mainstream media is to impress the audience and impress them by ‘current news’ and reports. The most important influence on the broadcasts is their inherently commercial, profit-seeking nature. Mainstream media are driven more than anything by ratings, which create and legitimize a ‘competitive ethos’ that defines the success of news simply in terms of audience ratings. For instance, mainstream media depicts that a visit to many cities of North America will reveal a highly visible scene of youth on the street. There is substantial evidence that alcoholism is the most pervasive health problem of the homeless in the United States. The rate of alcohol abuse has been estimated to be high for homeless men: “The survey found a majority of people, 58%, thinks the number of homeless is increasing compared with 10 years ago” (Most people think 2007).
In sum, alternative media proposes views more objective and unbiased analysis of the homelessness in America and conditions of homeless people. Mainstream media tries to impress the audience publishing unrealizable and even false information. Under the influence of the ‘competitive ethos’ newsmen also continuously monitor and try to beat their rivals’ figures. Competition for ratings compels mainstream media to adopt audience-maximization techniques, with disturbing consequences such as sensationalized, trivial and shallow reporting and populism. Thus, both mainstream and alternative media state that studies of homeless families underline the importance of housing supports that prevent the loss of housing for families. These supports could be in the form of increased scattered-site, affordable housing owned and operated by nonprofit community organizations, rent supplements to offset the large proportion of income devoted to paying for housing, and eviction-prevention programs. The problem of homelessness is a complex issue which requires attention of general community and the state, local and federal authorities, and individual citizens. Only in this case, it would be possible to support homeless people and introduce effective programs for this category of citizens.
Works Cited
- Cooper, M. The Two Worlds of Los Angeles. The Nation. 2000. Web.
- Emergency shelters near capacity. 2007. Web.
- Most people think homelessness a result of drug, alcohol abuse. 2007. Web.
- Skeels, R. LA’s Vicious War on the Homeless. 2007. Web.
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