With the annual Homelessness Prevention Week underway in Melbourne, homelessness has temporarily become the centre of attention for mainstream media.
This is part of the problem, according to The Big Issue editor Alan Attwood, who said the selective and stereotypical coverage of homelessness is a “danger.”
Mr Attwood chaired a panel of three mainstream media representatives on Tuesday at Melbourne City Council’s HoMe pop-up café, an initiative to aid the homeless in collaboration with STREAT, Council to Homeless Persons, Infoxchange, Homeground Real Estate and The Big Issue.
He said representation of the homeless was a major talking point, as well as exploring ways in which media can cover the issue for more than one week a year.
“In particular we were commenting on the unfortunate use of words like ‘homeless’ as a majoritive term,” he said.
“It only perpetuates stereotypes.
“I’ve always had a bit of a concern about weeks or days or whatever they might be because there was a tendency to say, ‘Right, well this week we’re concerned about homelessness, and the rest of the year we won’t cover it at all.’ I think that it’s a danger.”
While Mr Attwood said it was always positive to have the issue circulating within mainstream media, part of Homelessness Prevention Week is to not only find ways for media to become more consistently involved, but to help refine their coverage of the issue.
“(Homelessness) is often illustrated with even a stock image of someone sleeping in a park. Homelessness is much more complicated than that. You can actually be homeless despite presenting quite well, but you’re bouncing from friend’s to friend’s place,” he said.
To divert away from the stock standard press coverage, Mr Attwood said the community of vendors at The Big Issue are encouraged to be featured in the magazine, as opposed to ‘experts’.
Tomorrow’s edition of The Big Issue will feature a story about a recent service held in St Kilda to commemorate the passing of homeless people. Mr Attwood said this is an example of the “extraordinary” perspective unique to the magazine.
“To get the perspective of someone who knows of disadvantage on this event is very valuable,” he said.
“I would rather get the voices of people who are directly affected by whatever the issue is and get their own take on it.
“Within our own community of vendors we have a remarkable range of backgrounds and experiences. When you give them an opportunity to have their voice heard it’s extraordinary what they have to say.”
He supports the pop-up café initiative by the Melbourne City Council.
“Anything that can help people who need assistance and more broadly can make people more aware of some of the issues surrounding us is to be commended.”
The North Melbourne Football Club is also involved with the café, with vice-captain Jack Ziebell a proud club representative for the cause.
“We run a program out of North Melbourne called ‘The Huddle’, which is based around the community, helping various different bunches of people through local kids to schools and through to homelessness as well,” he said.
“I’ve done a bit of work in the area of North Melbourne and some of our first- and second-year players have gone and helped through soup kitchens. It’s a great initiative by the city and the council to help in this area.
“There’s 140 people per night who sleep rough, which makes you think how lucky we are to go home to a nice warm house in the middle of winter.”
Image: Nathan Larkin – Flickr CC
