Benefits Street

[SummerRain]

Did anybody watch this? It's had lots of back-lash for being an inaccurate and bias portrayal of people on benefits. Including a petition with 17,000 signatures so far requesting channel 4 stop its broadcast.

I thought I'd share in case you also wanted to sign, or wanted to say what you though.

To be honest, I watched it, and my main thoughts were to empathise with the situation the people were in, and to think it was sad that our system deals so badly with drug and alcohol addictions. I guess it didn't cross my mind that people were being demonised because I didn't think badly of them... but now that I've read the response to the show, I can see what people mean.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I didn't see it but I have read and heard the debates about it in the past few days, apparently 4.3m people saw it making it most watched Channel 4 show for more than a year.

I don't think Channel 4 shouldn't show it as they usually make good documentaries. I bet you are going to get quite a few people copying the tips on shoplifting.
How did the people involved not realise they were going to be portrayed in a bad light?

 

[Clueless Git]

I watched it and found it interesting.

I found the comments on IS's link interesting too.

Particularly interesting was the mistake that the show portrayed all people on benefits as unemployed, thieving low-lifes.

Arguably what the show quite accurately portrayed was that many (not all) on benefits are thieving low-lifes possibly for reasons that include:

a. Employment not being particularly attractive to thieving low-lifes.

b. No one sane enough to have employment to offer would be insane enough to employ a thieving low-life anyway.

 

[Ann Chovie]

How did the people involved not realise they were going to be portrayed in a bad light?

They did Moll. They wanted to 'use' the media to draw attention to just how bad they are and how clever that makes them.

The media in turn wanted to 'use ' them to create a piece of irresponsible, sensationalist gutter tripe.

I think the media won that one. And managed to destroy the credibility of genuine benefit claimants in the process making their lives just a little bit more miserable than they already are.

Excellent work guys! A big thank you from everyone at my CAB for that one.

 

[Blobbenstein]

well we know that the rich get the Quality Street...the media is owned by the rich, and plays out the narrative that suits them.


Channel 4 gets its money from ad revenue, and a lot of the people that advertise wouldn't like any other narrative, like a program about tax dodging wealthy companies.

 

[Clueless Git]

They did Moll. They wanted to 'use' the media to draw attention to just how bad they are and how clever that makes them.

'Smoggy' (the 50P man) did a particularly good job on that front.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I will probably watch the rest of the series to see if it gets any better, next episode is about Romanian migrants and it is meant to be positive. C4 Benefits Street shows Romanian family of FOURTEEN crammed into one house | Mail Online

There is some comment on the show here,"Polls show that people on average estimate that 27 per cent of social security payments are lost to fraud, when it is just 0.7 per cent; that 41 per cent goes to unemployed people, when it just three per cent; and that the value of benefits are far higher than they are." Benefits Street: A healthy media would stand up to the powerful and wealthy. Ours targets the poor and voiceless - Owen Jones - Comment - Voices - The Independent

 

[SummerRain]

There is some comment on the show here,"Polls show that people on average estimate that 27 per cent of social security payments are lost to fraud, when it is just 0.7 per cent; that 41 per cent goes to unemployed people, when it just three per cent; and that the value of benefits are far higher than they are." Benefits Street: A healthy media would stand up to the powerful and wealthy. Ours targets the poor and voiceless - Owen Jones - Comment - Voices - The Independent

I remember seeing a pie-chart of where benefits money goes, most of it went on the elderly, and a fair chunk went on child benefit (which all parents get). The media focuses JSA, and most people think that's where the money goes.

The independant article linked here to a Birmingham news article about how the people in the show felt they'd been misled, and the footage was cherry-picked to show a negative light. There were some good bits though - the 50p man, Dee who helped everybody with their problems.

 

[Moll Flanders]

UK welfare spending: how much does each benefit really cost? Visualised | News | theguardian.com

Yes, the largest part goes on pensions, 47%. Child benefit is means tested now I think, so higher earners don't get that.

 

[SummerRain]

UK welfare spending: how much does each benefit really cost? Visualised | News | theguardian.com

Yes, the largest part goes on pensions, 47%. Child benefit is means tested now I think, so higher earners don't get that.

Ah I'm not up to date with that then but yeah it was like that, not the same one, but that's the idea.

 

[Second Summer]

Full article: Iain Duncan Smith suggests hit show Benefits Street justifies savage welfare cuts (The Mirror, Jan 13 2014)

The Work and Pensions Secretary said the documentary starring benefit claimants ripping off the system had “shocked” the public.

And he also revealed that the controversial cap on the amount families can claim in benefits could be slashed by thousands of pounds.

Mr Duncan Smith said the Government’s £26,000 a year limit was “under review”.