Poor journalism: Framing poverty and welfare in the British press during the ‘age of neoliberalism’ 1985-2015 Steven Harkins A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University of Sheffield, Department of Journalism Studies, March 2017 1 2 Abstract 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. 3 4 Table of Contents ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... 5 TABLE OF FIGURES ........................................................................................ 10 TABLE OF TABLES .......................................................................................... 12 ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. 13 1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 14 1.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ..................................................................................................... 16 1.2 WHY STUDY NEWS COVERAGE OF POVERTY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM? ..................................... 17 1.2.1. The editorial position of the British press ...................................................... 18 1.3 WHY THE NEOLIBERAL TIME PERIOD? .................................................................................. 21 1.4 NEOLIBERALISM AND INEQUALITY ....................................................................................... 23 1.5 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS ................................................................................................ 25 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................. 29 2.1 THE BATTLE OF IDEAS: POVERTY AND JOURNALISM FROM THE ELIZABETHAN POOR LAWS TO THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 1597-1815 ..................................................................................... 32 2.2 THE VICTORIANS: POVERTY AND JOURNALISM IN THE ‘AGE OF INDIVIDUALISM’ 1815-1914 .......... 44 2.2.1 The Poor Laws and the radical press 1815-1855 ............................................ 44 2.2.2. Imperialism and the commercial press 1855-1914 ....................................... 54 2.3 THE COLD WAR: POVERTY AND JOURNALISM IN THE ‘AGE OF COLLECTIVISM’ 1917-1975 ............ 67 2.3.1 Poverty in the ‘age of collectivism’ 1917-1970 ............................................... 67 2.3.2 Thinking the unthinkable: the roots of neoliberalism 1930-1975 .................. 76 5 2.4 POVERTY, POLITICS AND JOURNALISM IN THE ‘AGE OF NEOLIBERALISM’ 1974-1984 .................... 82 2.4.1 Poverty, politics and news coverage 1974-1984 ............................................ 82 2.5 CHAPTER SUMMARY ........................................................................................................ 86 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................. 89 3.1 CONSTRUCTING THE ‘DESERVING’ AND ‘UNDESERVING’ POOR IN THE NEWS ................................ 89 3.2 POVERTY AND WELFARE IN THE AGE OF NEOLIBERALISM .......................................................... 92 3.3. POVERTY, POLITICS AND THE ‘FOURTH ESTATE’ .................................................................... 95 3.3.1. The importance of news sources ................................................................. 100 3.4. NEOLIBERALISM AS IDEOLOGY IN THE BRITISH PRESS ........................................................... 102 3.5. CHAPTER SUMMARY..................................................................................................... 112 4. METHODS AND METHODOLOGY .......................................................... 114 4.1. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 114 4.1.1. Objectivity and the position of the researcher ............................................ 114 4.1.2. Social constructionism and critical realism as a research paradigm ............ 118 4.1.3. Sociology and media studies ........................................................................ 123 4.2 RESEARCH METHODS ..................................................................................................... 126 4.2.1 Content analysis ............................................................................................ 126 4.2.1.1 Operationalising content analysis in Chapter 5 ......................................... 127 4.2.2 Framing analysis ............................................................................................ 132 4.2.2.1. Operationalising framing analysis in Chapter 6 ........................................ 141 4.2.2.2. Operationalising framing analysis in Chapter 7 ........................................ 148 4.2.2.3. Operationalising framing analysis in Chapter 8 ........................................ 152 4.2.2.4. Operationalising framing analysis in Chapter 9 ........................................ 154 4.3 SAMPLING ................................................................................................................... 157 6 5. THE ‘DESERVING’ AND ‘UNDESERVING’ POOR IN THE ‘AGE OF NEOLIBERALISM’ .......................................................................................... 159 5.1 POVERTY AND POLITICS .................................................................................................. 160 5.2 THE ‘DESERVING’ POOR .................................................................................................. 163 5.3 THE ‘UNDESERVING’ POOR .............................................................................................. 168 6. THE POLITICS OF POVERTY AND THE POVERTY OF POLITICS ....... 174 6.1. REFLECTING POLITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON POVERTY ............................................................. 178 6.2. FRAMING POVERTY: 1985-1997 ................................................................................... 180 6.3. FRAMING POVERTY 1997-2010 .................................................................................... 191 6.4. FRAMING POVERTY 2010-2014 .................................................................................... 198 6.5. CASE STUDY: FRAMING THE SPARE ROOM SUBSIDY ............................................................. 205 6.5.1. Defending the British State from the ‘loony left’ ......................................... 207 6.5.2. Reporting Rolnik in the liberal press ............................................................ 214 7. POOR SOURCES: ‘EXPERT’ VOICES IN REPORTING FOOD AND FUEL POVERTY ....................................................................................................... 216 7.1. SOURCING FOOD POVERTY ............................................................................................ 218 7.1.1. Sourcing food poverty in the liberal press ................................................... 225 7.1.2. Sourcing food poverty in the conservative press ......................................... 229 7.1.3. Reporting food poverty summary ................................................................ 236 7.2. SOURCING FUEL POVERTY .............................................................................................. 236 7.2.1. Sourcing fuel poverty in the liberal press ..................................................... 239 7.2.2. Sourcing fuel poverty in the conservative press .......................................... 243 8. BLAMING THE VICTIMS: NEWS FRAMING OF THE WELFARE STATE 249 7 8.1. FRAMING THE WELFARE STATE 1985-1997 ..................................................................... 250 8.1.1. Single Mothers, the ‘underclass’