Discourse of Poverty in the Context of New Racism

Abstract

The news media, as a component of new racism, broadcasts certain biases that serve for the dichotomy of us vs them. In order to maintain and reproduce the dominant ideology, the news media marginalizes those who are not in the majority and presents them to people with limited definitions, thus causing prejudices and stereotypes to be formed and settled in people's minds. From this perspective, this study examines how poverty, as one of the new racist practices, is established in the news. 18 news about poverty in the internet news sites with the highest click rates (Hürriyet, Milliyet, Sözcü) were analyzed according to van Dijk's critical discourse analysis method. The analysis of the news indicated that although the subject of poverty varies in the news, the assumption that that poverty was seen as an essentially individual problem was common. The poor were negatively portrayed and humiliated in the news in relation to the new racism, and that the problem of poverty is not addressed in the news at the macro level in accordance with dominant ideology.