The aim of the initiative Communication Rights and Public Voices: Monitoring rural poverty reporting is to support civil society organisations to create evidence-based public and media awareness of problems in mainstream media coverage of issues affecting the rural poor. People living in poverty rarely figure as the focus of news in mainstream media. The media can play a role in poverty reduction given its power to influence the masses and shape public opinion. Effective media coverage of poverty issues from ground-breaking news articles to hard-hitting human stories can raise the level and quality of public debate on poverty reduction, which in turn can clearly affect decision-making in both public and private spheres.

Critical media reporting can strengthen the voices of people living in poverty, articulate their concerns and perspectives in order to improve the understanding about poverty and enhance the effectiveness of actions aimed at addressing poverty and inequalities.

Project partners are expected to:

1. Use WACC’s media monitoring methodology to monitor poverty reporting as it affects rural populations, including but not limited to food security and/or climate change in influential national or regional print, radio, television or internet news media.
2. In collaboration with other organisations working on poverty, use the data resulting from the monitoring to make public statements about their concerns with poverty reporting and to advocate for changes in media practices regarding poverty reporting.

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