Jason Smith/NLGJA

From left, panelists Jennifer Christensen, Carrie Kahn, Ana Menendez, Steven Gray and Kelly McBride.

Coverage of the poor called lacking

By Megan Wright
NLGJA Reporter Staff Writer

In the days following Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of the Gulf Coast, there was intense coverage of the hurricane’s impact on the poor. But interest is dying, coverage has declined and the victims have been forgotten, noted panelists at yesterday’s plenary luncheon, “Covering the Uncovered: Reporting on the Poor and Powerless.”

“We have to dig up those stories, find stories that lend [themselves] to the issues and keep them alive,” said panelist Jen Christensen, an investigative field producer for CNN.
The U.S. Census Bureau has ranked Miami as the third-poorest city in the nation, and Miami Herald columnist and panelist Ana Menendez saw this forum as the perfect place to discuss this topic, she said, because being close to the problem makes it more real.

“The poor has a voice in their communities, our part is to get those voices heard,” she said. “Today, our main goal is to encourage journalists to continue to introduce readers to people they have never met and to get those voices heard by others.”

Getting people to talk to a reporter with a camera can be daunting, but panelist Carrie Kahn of NPR advises reporters to “take the time to talk to people, show genuine interest. If the government is not speaking for the people, there has to be someone who is.”

One of the topics that came up was minimum wage. Menendez’s coverage of a janitorial strike was an interesting point of reference, and, as a columnist, she has the latitude to lend her opinion to a subject. In taking up the janitors’ cause, she said she felt that they were unfairly treated and her column was her platform for voicing her beliefs.

“The stories on [University of Miami] janitors were about living wages, people who cannot live on what they make and the role of a rich university.  It was not right for people to make $6.70 per hour without benefits, and it was a matter of making that known to the people.”

“Shame the system into doing something,” Christensen advised NLGJA members. “The system is easier to cover, so talk to the people, see how they struggle, personify the problem and bring it to the people who can affect change.”