Of all the “news magazine” type shows that I love to watch, Dateline NBC isn’t one that I make an effort to catch often. Since we’ve disconnected from cable, however, my options on Sunday nights are limited so I happened to tune in this past weekend. Ann Curry did a story (America Now: Friends & Neighbors) on the increasing poverty in the US as a result of the recession; she focused on southeast Ohio and selected a couple families to follow for the story. I was really moved by this, and have thought about it often since watching.
If you didn’t catch it you should try to make some time to watch it here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38382773/ns/dateline_nbc-america_now
Let me first say that I am a big fan of Ann Curry…I watch the Today show almost every morning while getting ready for work and I think she brings a lot to that show. I liked her so much I was rooting for her to replace Katie Couric, and most mornings while watching Meredith Vieira, I wish that she had. That being said, I thought Ann was too nice, or simply chose not to ask hard questions while covering this story.
The story started with a local food bank that is supporting a growing number of people who rely on assistance to feed their families while operating on a shoestring budget. It was really sad seeing the many people who probably couldn’t feed their families without this food bank. The depiction of poverty in this rural area was surprising and Holly and I decided that we’d like to send a donation to the Friends & Neighbors Food Pantry.
While feeling very bad for the people covered in this story, I kept getting frustrated that more questions weren’t asked about what the individuals were doing to help get themselves out of poverty. Had these individuals considered moving to another area? Have they looked for ways to make themselves more employable? Have they contacted state agencies to take full advantage of programs setup to assist them? Do they think they’re making it possible for their children to rise out of poverty? I know these are easy questions to ask from my vantage point and there are countless hurdles for poor families to overcome to change their situations, but I felt the story glossed over everything that might involve the families helping themselves.
I tried to focus on the bigger picture, but it was hard watching a woman get upset about not being able to feed her children while smoking a cigarette…this after explaining that she pinches pennies to buy the cheapest groceries because even the pennies saved counted. Even if you smoke the cheap brands, I’m sure that the money spent would equate to a couple more cans of food for the kids.
A similar moment came when Ann was interviewing a young mother of 3 who had lived in her van with the kids during the times that she couldn’t stay with her grandparents after fighting with them. Ann questioned whether this woman had ever learned about birth control…she said that she had, but retorted: “accidents happen.” There were no other follow up questions despite so many opportunities to go into more detail; instead they moved onto talking about the woman participating in a singing contest to win 50 dollars. After dropping out of school when she had the second child before she would have graduated I had to ask myself at what point she thought a 3rd child was a good idea.
Judging by the comments left on the dateline page I saw that many others experienced the same frustrations.
Somewhere in the middle of all this the governor of Ohio was interviewed and stated that at some point “it became stylish to be selfish. It’s almost acceptable to be prejudiced against poor people.” I then wondered if my frustrations were just my prejudice and selfishness coming out. I’m still thinking about that, but I think a little more in depth coverage was still warranted…
As an aside…throughout the story I was reminded of Jeannette Wall’s book, “The Glass Castle.” I imagined that the people being interviewed were somewhat like Wall’s parents, and wondered if the kids had some of the same feelings/experiences that she had as a kid. If you haven’t read that book I’d recommend that too!
#1 by editterry - July 27th, 2010 at 23:30
This is my home county, and I was repulsed by the comments on the Dateline site, folks parsing what it means to be poor, expecting pristine judgment from people whose situations are obviously dire. To indulge yourself in a cigarette when you’ve got hopeless prospects, I wouldn’t call that a luxury. It’s probably what helps keep her going. I just think all the judgmental bullshit suggests that a lot of the critical commenters don’t have any friends or family members who are messed up. That said, I thought your comments were thoughtful. I’m mainly talking about the ones on Dateline.
#2 by Ben - July 28th, 2010 at 07:31
Thanks…for reading and commenting. I’ve visited the area several times while attending events at Ohio University and never picked up on any of this, which is what made it so surprising to me. I agree, the comments on the dateline site did take it to the extreme, but the people who handled it tactfully seemed to just question some of the things shown. And, to some extent, I’m sure the producers of the show carefully selected what they showed and didn’t show to get this exact rise out of people.