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country, a huge convoy of expensive 4x4 vehicles escort a top of the range Mercedes into a shanty town, closely followed by the media. This is a government minister of parliament dropping in to try to secure his success in the next elections. The headlines will read "minister promises new housing and jobs for all", something he knows very well will never happen and again he really does not care, all he needs is the vote; after all, if he wins he gets a six figure income for the next five years.

Crime makes poverty an important story, only if the crime has been committed against the not so impoverished, but was committed by someone who comes from the lower end of the poverty chain. Have you ever seen a newspaper headline "destitute man killed for his shoes" or "destitute man found robbed on a street corner". No I guess not, however it is common to read "Destitute man arrested for stealing a cellphone", or "Resident from the local squatter camp (shanty town) arrested for murder of a prominent businessman".

Poverty is important to the media if it benefits a politician or celebrity. Politicians use the impoverished to play on the emotions of the people in order to win elections. The media use this to sell their stories. Yes I must admit, many celebrities do a lot for poverty, however if they were honestly doing it for the love of a fellow human or because they really cared, why does it have to be reported to the world. This is because they benefit from the publicity of the story. The true hero's donating money or food to the impoverished in the world, do it anonymously. There is no story.

So what if Angelina Jolie has adopted impoverished children, so has thousands of other very ordinary people, some who can only just afford to put a meal on the table and a roof over their heads, those are true hero's of poverty, yet they are never mentioned in the media. Let a destitute person try to walk into the house of a celebrity or politician to ask for food. He will make headlines when he is arrested or in countries like Zimbabwe, he will be shot on sight.

If you really need to read stories of poverty, read between the lines of the next natural disaster article or of the latest crime wave to hit an upper class neighborhood. That is where the stories of the impoverished raise their heads.

Learn more about this author, Kirk Olivier.
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