Benefits Street

Who benefits from TV’s glut of poverty programmes? Is it the TV companies or the films’ protagonists? And what of the charities that are frequently involved in the making of this tele­vision sub-genre, which has been dubbed “poverty porn”?

These were some of the questions discussed at a conference held at the end of November and organised by the RTS, BBC, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

This was one of the key findings of new research undertaken by the BBC looking at a style of television often described as “poverty porn” by TV reviewers.

The study was unveiled at a conference in Manchester, Who Benefits? TV and Poverty.

The event was backed by the RTS, the BBC, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

Click here to watch the full video of the event.