Fast food and food stamps: Big controversy, small program, By Pamela M. Prah, September 20, 2011, Stateline.org: “The notion that welfare recipients might be able to buy fast food with their food stamps caused a ruckus on blogs and Twitter earlier this month, but some key facts often got muddled. ‘Restaurants want a piece of food stamp pie,’ read the headline of a recent USA Today story that said fast food restaurants ‘are lobbying for a piece of the action’ as the number of businesses approved to accept food stamps grew by a third from 2005 to 2010. The article correctly notes that since the 1970s, states have had the option of creating what the federal government calls a ‘Restaurant Meal Program’ for food stamp recipients. But few states actually have created them. One of the reasons is because eligibility is restricted to the homeless, disabled or elderly who get food stamps. The programs are not open to everyone – a crucial fact that was missed when the story went viral. The point of the restaurant meal program is to help those food stamp recipients who may not be able to cook for themselves or don’t even have a place to cook, explains Aaron Lavallee, a spokesman for the U.S Department of Agriculture. Otherwise, these folks have few options for using their food stamps…”
Tag: Media coverage
Perception of the Poor in the US
In hard times, Americans blame the poor, By Alfred Lubrano, February 15, 2010, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Last month, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer of South Carolina said that when the government helps the poor, it’s like people feeding stray animals that continually ‘breed.’ And just last week, Colorado state legislator Spencer Swalm said poor people in single-family homes are ‘dysfunctional.’ Both statements riled some Americans from the Piedmont to the Rockies and underscored a widely held belief: In tough times, people are tough on the poor. In an April 2009 poll by the Pew Research Center in Washington, 72 percent agreed with the statement that ‘poor people have become too dependent on government assistance programs.’ That’s up from 69 percent in 2007. ‘The economic downturn has made the middle class less generous toward others,’ said Guy Molyneux, a partner at Hart Research Associates, a Washington firm that researches attitudes toward the poor. ‘People are less supportive of the government helping the poor, because they feel they’re not getting enough help themselves. It’s a divided country, splitting on a fault line: those who think the poor are poor because they don’t try enough, and those who think the poor simply need help…'”
Media Coverage of Poverty on the Gulf Coast
Gulf Coast poverty coverage down, By Sarah Chacko, August 11, 2009, Baton Rouge Advocate: “Despite the ongoing effects of poverty in the Gulf Coast after two storms in 2005, media coverage of the issue has significantly decreased, according to a recently released Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation study. The study points to a drop in the number of stories after hurricanes Katrina and Rita that relate to the struggles of residents living in poverty in the area. Two LSU mass communication professors said they are not surprised by the report’s conclusions. The study raises questions about what would qualify as sufficient coverage; if the stories that are covered have significant impact; and what difference more coverage may have made in the recovery process, they said…”