Below the radar: A UK benefit fraud media coverage tsunami – impact, ideology and society

Gavin, Neil ORCID: 0000-0002-9217-6710 (2021) Below the radar: A UK benefit fraud media coverage tsunami – impact, ideology and society. British Journal of Sociology, 72 (3). pp. 707-724.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12809

Abstract

Framed by a literature on media coverage of welfare, "poverty porn" and "poverty propaganda," and its emphasis on political messaging and ideology, this article explores reporting of benefit fraud in the United Kingdom. In a comprehensive and systematic assessment, it illuminates the structure and extremely large volume of benefit fraud coverage, 2008-2017, across national, sub-national, regional and local newspapers, mainstream television, TV documentaries, BBC web output, and BBC radio. With the aid of the 2016 British Social Attitude survey, and utilizing the most current conceptualizations of the processes underpinning media influence, it argues that this tsunami of coverage will have had a significant impact on the public. The results are explored in relation to their political and ideological implications, and their relevance to a much broader array of media discourses.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	benefit fraud, Britain, impact, media coverage
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	04 Mar 2021 09:39
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 22:57
DOI:	10.1111/1468-4446.12809
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12809
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3116511