Based on a 20-month ethnographic study of television and audiences in class-divided Philippines, this is the first book to take a bottom-up approach in considering how people respond to images and narratives of suffering and poverty on television. The book aims to contribute to the broader project of de-Westernizing media studies and explore the tension between ethical prescription and anthropological description in the social sciences and humanities. Winner of the 2016 Philippine Social Science Council Excellence in Research Award.

Framing Class explores how the media, including television, film, and news, depict wealth and poverty in the United States. Fully updated and revised throughout, the second edition of this groundbreaking book now includes discussions of new media, updated media sources, and provocative new examples from movies and television, such as The Real Housewives series and media portrayals of the new poor and corporate executives in the recent recession. The book introduces the concepts of class and media framing to students and analyzes how the media portray various social classes, from the elite to the very poor. Its accessible writing and powerful examples make it an ideal text or supplement for courses in sociology, American studies, and communications.

The key concepts of the book are media, class, poverty, and shaming. The contributors to this book examine how certain social relations and their cultural meanings in the media, namely class and poverty, are transformed into factual or moral attributes of people and situations. Class and poverty are not understood as certain things and actions, or concepts and numbers; both class and poverty are assumed to be, above all, particular social relationships or a set of relations between people, things and symbols. Without denying that contempt for the destitute Other is an affect found throughout history and in various socioeconomic contexts, the chapters in this book – through their concern with the mediated gaze on class – narrate predominantly the challenges brought about by the media’s spectacular take on poverty and low status as they (at least) coincide with the neoliberal era. This volume will be essential reading for the scholars specialising in the study of media and social inequalities form the vantage points of Media Studies, Sociology, Anthropology or European Studies.

This companion to PBS-TV's upcoming America's War On Poverty series offers a profound look at one of America's most pressing problems. Through gripping interviews, stories, essays, profiles and first-person accounts, this book helps readers share what it is like to be poor in America, and also offers ideas for action against poverty.

Born into poverty in Hammond, Indiana, not much was expected from Irvin Acie Cross. But with much hard work and dedication, he put together one of the most incredible life stories imaginable. After being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1961 out of Northwestern University, Cross went on to have a nine-year career in the NFL, appearing in two Pro Bowls. After retiring, he joined the Eagles as a coach, and did so until 1971 when a rare opportunity came along. With his player career over and without any experience, Cross hired by CBS sports as an analyst and commentator, becoming the first African American to work full-time as a sports analyst on national television. He then joined NFL Today in 1975 with Brent Musburger, former Miss America Phyllis George, and sports bookie Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, and the show would go on to win thirteen Emmy Awards that first year. Throughout his life, Irv Cross has shown off his signature smile. With his strong spiritual belief, he has accomplished more than most people could ever dream of. His hard work and dedication have led him on a storied journey, and in 2009 we was awarded the Pete Rozelle Radio and TV Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Bearing the Cross is Irv at his finest. From childhood to retirement, he shares an incredible life; the friends he’s made, the people he’s helped, and the lives he’s changed. With the help from longtime journalist Clifton Brown, Bearing the Cross will not only give you an inside look into this incredible man, but teach you the life lessons that have warmed his life.

Based on an extensive ethnographic study of television and audiences in class-divided Philippines, this is the first book to take a bottom-up approach in considering how people respond to images and narratives of suffering and poverty on television. Arguing for an anthropological ethics of media, this book challenges existing work in media studies and sociology that focuses solely on textual analysis and philosophical approaches to the question of representing vulnerable others. Current questions in media ethics, such as whether to portray sufferers as humane and empowered individuals or show them ‘at their worst’ have so far used textual and visual analyses to convey the researcher’s own moral position on the matter. In contrast, this book, inspired by the anthropology of moralities, accounts for the different interpretations and moral positions of audiences, who are positioned in various degrees of social and moral proximity to those they see and hear on television. Winner of the 2016 Philippine Social Science Council Excellence in Research Award.

Poor News examines the way discourses of poverty are articulated in the news media by incorporating specific narratives and definers that bring about certain ideological worldviews. This happens, the authors claim, because journalists and news editors make use of a set of information strategies while accessing certain sources within specific social and political dynamics. The book looks at the case of the news media in Britain since the industrial revolution and produces a historical account of how these media discourses came into play. The main thesis is that there have been different historical cycles that reflect particular hegemonic ideas of each period. Consequently, the role of mainstream journalism has been a subservient one for existing elites when it comes to the propagation of dominant ideas.