Poverty, and also other forms of social neglect, of certain sections of society would, and should, arouse public attention and concern particularly if and when it is highlighted by the mass media.

The media, on their part, have a social responsibility to bring poverty to the public attention in the hope that an urgent redress would be executed by the authorities concerned. Public discussion and debate on this matter would indeed help signal its social and political import. In other words, it is envisaged that such a news coverage would go a long way towards helping society achieve social justice.

Thus, a news analysis of the plight of the Indian community in Penang, which, for instance, was made in the New Straits Times on Sept 14, prompted a reader to respond in the form of a letter to the editor ( NST , Sept. 21), and also a commentary by Harun Hashim in his "Benchmark" column (Sept 21).

The news analysis was essentially based on a final report made by the Socio-economic and Environmental Research Institute in Penang on the socio-economic status of the Indian community in the state, which indicated some worrying signs pertaining to the community concerned.

While it is commendable that newspapers such as the NST have highlighted the plight of the downtrodden and the poor, such a coverage is relatively few and far in between, and also often tends to gloss over the underlying causes of such socio-economic problems.

Another factor that should be also of concern to us is that quite often reporting of poverty is made based on the "revelation" of certain politicians. Here what the reporter and the reader should be aware of is the timing of such a revelation by the politicians concerned. Sometimes it is deliberately disclosed just in time before a political party's delegates' convention, thereby attempting to give a sense that the party is keeping abreast with social developments and that it has the people's welfare at heart.

In other words, such a reporting can be seen as the newspaper being made, unwittingly or otherwise, party to the cynicism, or worse, shenanigans, of the politicians concerned.

What is also happening here is that you get politicians making grand statements regarding what they think, and intend to do, about poverty. The end result is that his/her professed noble intentions get highlighted while the real sufferings of the people concerned become trivialised or pushed aside.

Poverty ethnicised

The other serious implication arising from the kind of coverage that focuses on the poor from a particular ethnic background is that poverty becomes ethnicised. Such a reporting can give the impression that the socio-economic problems of a certain ethnic community is more important - and, thus, the redress urgent - compared to that of other communities.

Such a journalistic treatment of socio-economic problems is indeed "sinful" considering the fact that poverty, like greed, is "universal", i.e. it doesn't recognise colour or creed.

When poverty and other socio-economic problems are not made to appear by the media to be solely associated with a particular ethnic community, then we can try to prevent the possibility of certain so-called champions of the ethnic communities concerned from "hijacking" such socio-economic problems. Furthermore, compartmentalisation of poverty along ethnic lines can be averted or considerably reduced.

Besides, a holistic and comprehensive approach towards poverty and other economic problems would a go a long way towards making the poor and the unfortunate have a sense of belonging to the country.

Such a media treatment can also help promote and protect the dignity of all the less fortunate in our midst, irrespective of their ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and also helps inform us all that they are part of a larger humanity.

That the reporting of the plight of the downtrodden is relatively sparse could be partly attributed to the nature of most media organisations these days. They, especially the private ones, are primarily profit-driven. Thus, by and large the news coverage would cater to the needs and interests of readers whose large capacity to consume is of utmost concern to advertisers and providers of goods and services. The advertisers, in short, generally have the financial leverage.

Media priorities

The media in this context are judged by the priorities they make as well as their ability or willingness to strike a balance between profit and social responsibility. In the name of national interest and harmony, it is perhaps imperative that the profit logic of the mass media be tempered with a social conscience to serve the common and larger good of the society.

Another possible factor that helps to explain the irregularity of poverty-related news is the attempt by the powers that be to project via the mainstream mass media an image of a government that is always in control of socio-economic problems, and that its socio-economic measures have not failed the poor and the needy.

More "success stories" are therefore preferred. In other words, expose of economic plight at a regular interval would cast a damning testament of the government's inability to take effective remedial steps to overcome poverty and other socio-economic problems.

It is when such political intervention prevails and the corporate interests of the mainstream mediaconcerned tower over the needs of the economically disadvantaged in society that you see the reporting of the poor being made an appendage to the news and analyses of boardroom tension, market fervour, politicians' promises, and the middle class' material indulgence.