Playing down poverty

Most Canadian newspapers failed litmus test in coverage of Stats Canada documentation of growing gap between rich and poor

By: Barrie Zwicker, Vision TV Media Critic

  Every once in a while a story comes along that's a litmus test for every media outlet. One that reveals whose interests they serve, their value system.
  This is such a story. On Friday March 16 the Toronto Star ran a banner headline "Rich, poor are even wider apart" in response to a Statistics Canada study about the wherewithal of Canadians. The Star prints it on the front page. Where to me it clearly belongs. It gets the full treatment ­ large colour picture of a financially-struggling Canadian, the full colour chart, the extensive continuation, the sidebar, "Financial security elusive" - all more than justified.
  Why do I think this story is such a big deal? The gap between Canada's have's and have-not's has become "staggering," as The Star correctly terms it. The net worth of Canadians determines their ability to house themselves decently or otherwise, feed themselves, purchase prescription drugs. These are life-and-death issues. This study's also about opportunity. Including opportunity to obtain a higher education ­ in turn a key to earning opportunity, as another StatsCan study proves. Remember the "Just Society?" These stats portray an increasingly unjust society. Large disparities of material resources eventually trigger unrest. For all these reasons and more, this unprecedented 15-year examination of our liquidity and prospects deserves to be highlighted by the media, followed up in a sustained way, commented upon and eventually acted upon.
 

The Star reported that rich and poor are farther apart, the Sun said families are making more

  The National Post played this story on page four without illustration. The Globe and Mail's story was on page three, also unillustrated, and shorter. These were typical of newspaper play across the country. Some papers [VIDEO SHOWS SUN HEADLINE: "FAMILIES MAKING MORE"] managed to come up with headlines that obscured the nub of the story.
  Except for The Toronto Star no papers I saw added depth or sought much comment from anti-poverty organizations, social activists - even economists.
  Now the Star's story termed the StatsCan findings "staggering." The National Post story termed them "dramatic" and "disturbing." The Globe and Mail story called them "significant" and "unprecedented." The findings, in other words, cried out for editorial comment. And three days after their release the StatsCan findings were the subject of the Star's lead editorial.
  The editorial connects the wealth dot to the education dot to the opportunity dot and back to the wealth dot. The editorial notes that therefore the disparity is likely to get worse. The editorial notes working people's wages are taxed more heavily than are stock market windfalls. The editorial concludes: "The rich, it would seem, have more friends in government than the poor."
  But the editorial writers at The National Post and at The Globe and Mail found the subject unworthy of comment, as did most Canadian editorial writers. And what a comment that is. Staggering, dramatic, disturbing and significant. But not at all unprecedented.

Barrie Zwicker is Media Critic with the Vision TV [www.visiontv.ca] program Skylight. This commentary, in broadcast form, first aired Monday, 26 March 2001.

Posted: April 02, 2001

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