Poor journalism: Framing poverty and welfare in the British press during the ‘age of neoliberalism’ 1985-2015

This thesis examines 4070 articles in the British press written between 1985 and
2015. This longitudinal approach captures a timeframe which has been described
by scholars as the ‘age of neoliberalism’. In order to understand how the
neoliberal paradigm emerged, the thesis outlines a history of ideas about poverty
in the UK national press which have developed across key periods characterised
by individualism, collectivism, and a return to individualism. Individualism has
been linked to neoliberal ideology, placing the individual consumer in the free
market at the centre of political, social and economic decision making. This free
market ideology undermines the case for the welfare state and is often used to
criticise individuals experiencing poverty as failed capitalists or consumers rather
than as victims of an unjust system.

This thesis examines the extent to which this neoliberal ideology has been
reflected in news coverage of poverty and welfare by examining news, politics
and ideology. It finds that the press have engaged in a process of institutionalised
social exclusion of welfare recipients who they construct as an ‘undeserving
other’ who threatens ‘mainstream’ values. In doing so, the press have largely
ignored inequality and the risk that poverty presents to many people by
constructing it as an issue which only affects ‘others’ with behavioural problems.
This behavioural diagnosis of poverty was consolidated in the early days of the
commercial press and was used to blame impoverished people for their own
poverty. This thesis analyses how the British press have reinforced neoliberal
ideology by repackaging a set of claims about poverty and welfare which are
rooted in the historical concepts of the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor.