How Do the Media Shape Public Attitude to Welfare Provision?

How Do the Media Shape Public Attitude to Welf are supplying?How do the media shape state-supported attitudes to offbeat homework?Research has shown that in previous spells of economic crisis that the state-supporteds attitude to benefit provision grows more sympathetic (Taylor-Gooby, 2004, as cited in Clery, 2012 2) and, thence, during the current economic crisis at bottom the UK, we would expect that this trend would continue. Clery (2012 17), n unitarytheless, lay down that the public are more sceptical close the eudaimonia system and that there is less enthusiasm about public spending on all types of benefits and an increasing belief that the welfare system encourages dependence. The media is widely cited as being a progress to of this shift in public attitude to welfare provision.The ubiquitousness of the media gives strength to educate, raise consciousness and shape public attitudes (Kinder, 1998 as cited in Bullock, 2001 229) on issues, such as welfare, especial ly when there is no personal insure or background knowledge of the issue.There are many intelligence agencyworthiness stories which highlight a high proportion of pseudo within the welfare system, primarily focusing on single parents, unemployed and disabled. Benefit faker has always been an issue but there is very little distinguish to suggest that fraud is a major problem. but, there is a far-flung belief that the system is riddled with fraud (Spicker, 2011). Evidence from DWP (2014) suggests that official and claimant wrongful conduct is actually higher than benefit fraud within the UK (see write in code 1.1) and fraud by unemployed claiming Jobseekers allowance is at the lower end of the denture (Figure 1.2).Figure 1.1 Estimated percentage of expenditure over paying(a) due to fraud, claimant break and official error since 2005/06Source DWP Fraud and wrongdoing in the Benefit System 2012/2013 (Great Britain)Figure 1.2 Which Benefit has the Most Fraud and Error Overpa yment Source DWP Fraud and Error in the Benefit System 2012/2013 (Great Britain)Another frequent story within the British media is that of single mothers abusing the welfare system, thus labelling all single mothers and attaching a stigma of the welfare queen who exploits the system to live a copious lifestyle (Lipset, 1990, as cited in Bullock et al, 2001 230).Wilthorn (1996, as cited Bullock et al, 2001 234) show that welfare recipients are one of the most hated and stereotyped groups in contemporary society and a series on poverty by Parisi (1998, as cited in Clawson and Trice, 2000 54) illustrated how the media perpetuate stereotypes of the inadequate as lazy, sexually tyrannical and criminally deviant. Larsen and Dejgaard (2013 288) compete that such stereotypical images created by characterisation of welfare recipients in the media are difficult to remove and that they ease up a significant impact on the public determining whether they perceive claimants to be deserve or not. Stereotyping these groups acts both as a justificatory maneuver for categorical acceptance or rejectionto maintain simplicity in apprehension and in thinking according to Allport (1954 1979 192).Sotorovic (2000 269) demonstrates, however, that journalists believe they accurately report on issues which are important and reflect the publics point of view, however the opinion of Jones (2014 URL) contradicts thisThe Government andthe media have fed us a relentless, injurious diet of skivers and scroungers, of the feckless and workshy hiding behind blinds, subsidised by you, the hard-working taxpayer, who have to get up in the morning and slog your guts out. It was the doings of those at the top of society which led to a surge in unemployment and hundreds of thousands driven to food banks in one of the richest countries on earth. it is the behavior of those at the bottom of society that has been scrutinised, poked, criticised, and demonised.There are some claimants who run ad vantage of the system and live off the taxpayer, however the minority who do are thrown into the publics eye through competitive truth-stretching headlines, selective inform and pictures to provide texture, drama and detailed images which illustrate the interpreted for granted and the goes without sayingFIGURE 2 NEGATIVE VOCABULARY IN NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ON WORKING AGE BENEFITS CONSISTENT TITLES, 1995-2011Source Turn2Us (2012 41)(Clawson and Trice, 2000 55), better-looking the perception that the UK has a culture of worklessness. The idea of worklessness could be dispersed by the results of a survey conducted by the IFS on the UK benefit system where it was found that the majority of the welfare budget was paid to the elderly (42.3%), and only 2.57% paid to the unemployed (IFS, 2012 URL). Respondents in a poll carried out by the TUC wrong believed that 41% of the welfare budget was paid to the unemployed (TUC, 2013 URL).There has been an ontogeny in negative language used by the media over the some cartridge holder(prenominal) 10 years (Figure 2) with language referring to non-reciprocity/lack of effort escalating at the time of New Labours third term reforms and the Conservatives Broken Britain agenda. It could be argued that this marked a shift in the public treat of welfare in the UK to an essentially individualistic ethic of business (Dean, 2004 78).The negative language seen within media in the UK does not appear cross-nationally. Larsen and Dejgaard (2013) argue that this is due to institutional models of welfare and the UKs move from a piano genial democratic regime to a harsh liberal one which creates deservingness discussions in the media, often highlighting laziness as the understanding of poverty which may be due to the liberal ideologies of individualism and responsibility. The reading found that media within the contrasted Nordic social democratic countries tended to focus on welfare in a more positive light referring to the deserving poor, with no blame on the claimants. It would appear that the high levels of perceive undeservingness and the negativity towards the poor and welfare recipients may be due to the means-tested and non-contributory welfare system in the UK (Larsen, 2006, as cited in Larsen, 2013). Larsen (2013 298) also suggested that political penchant may be reason for the negative depiction within the media, particularly given the scandals surrounding the Murdoch Empire.At the time of the Conservatives resource manifesto, The Sun Newspaper publicly announced that they had lost faith in the Labour company and would support the Conservatives in the upcoming election (Brook and Wintour, 2009 URL) to stimulate the broken society which we live in. This support of one of the largest newspapers within the unify Kingdom may have had a large impact on their readers opinion, shaping their belief that society was broken, and a qualifying in government with subsequent welfare reform was required to con stitute it better, sooner than looking at the real broken Britain the reasons for the economic crisis instead than focusing on the vulnerable, the reasons for high unemployment and the 25b outstanding from wealthy tax dodgers. It leads to an subscriber line whether the media should be able to publicly support any governmental party or whether they should remain impartial rather than inflict their political ideology onto the public.Liberal ideology and social class also had a brawny influence in the reporting of two missing girls, Madeleine McCann and Shannon Matthews. Whilst both girls were virtually the same age, their different class backgrounds demonstrated media bias in the reporting of the two cases and there was belief amongst the media that Madeleine was worth more as she was from a middle class background and a substantially higher advantage was offered for her safe return. On the other hand, Shannons disappearance was used as a political tool on scroungers and to fix b roken Britain (Jones, 2012). The signs are that the media is and will become more dominated by the most intimate (The Sutton Trust, 2006) which will create further bias and inequality within the industry, therefore The National Union of Journalists need to toughen up, ensuring that journalists operate ethically and morally and not as they did in the Matthews case.The media has been the most widely cited cause of influencing public attitudes, it is however clear that there are other factors the image of claimants as social parasites was evident long before the press became a major factor influencing opinions the rejection of the dependent poor goes much deeper (Spicker 1984, as cited in Turn2Us, 2012 54). The media, form _or_ system of government and the public are interconnected and they can influence each other, however the media has the opportunity and the power to reach the widespread public through newspapers, television, social media etc. It stands that if the media continue to use their ideological-driven partisan reporting to fuel misconceptions rather than give facts, the era of welfare cuts and austerity will prolong with the ultimate demise of the welfare state, as believed by almost 60% of voters in a survey by commissioned by Christian value Tax, Theos (Press standstill, 2014 URL). A healthy media would stand up to the powerful and wealthy to sort the myths and prejudices (Jones, 2014) and protect the vulnerable as the modern welfare state intended. discourse count 1478ReferencesAllport, G W (1954/1979). The Nature of Prejudice. Cambridge, MA. Perseus Books.Brooke, S and Wintour, P (2009). 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