The way we talk about issues like poverty matters. It has real-world effects.
Audiences often have strong feelings about the issue based on what they’ve read, heard or seen.
Right now, with many households enduring challenging economic circumstances, stories about poverty are ever more relevant.
It’s vital that we tell better stories about poverty. Where real experiences are heard.
We’ve long thought this.
So, in 2018, at Heard we launched our Talking About Poverty Programme in partnership with Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The project connects people, with the aim of growing understanding and activating hope that poverty can be solved. It’s from those spaces where better stories emerge.
To do this, we support people with first hand experience of poverty or being on a low income to do safe and effective media work. That’s done with training, meet-ups and peer-to-peer support. There’s a strong focus on confidence and wellbeing.
For media professionals, the programme offers the opportunity to be curious, ask questions and be inspired by what you hear. It can offer valuable introductions. We can also provide spokespeople, comment, contacts, consultation and access to resources.
Heard believes bringing these groups together is essential for this big and important issue to move forward.
We also bring with us a wealth of evidence-based insight when it comes to storytelling about poverty: understanding how and why certain narratives or experiences connect with audiences.
In the past Talking About Poverty has worked with BBC Children In Need, Emmerdale and Living Wage Foundation. We also create resources, such as ‘Reporting Poverty: A Guide for Media Professionals’. It launched with a webinar hosted on the Journo Resources platform reaching their extensive network of media professionals.
Together, we want to inspire and encourage media creators to tell a new story about how poverty works and how we can solve it.
Do you work in the media? If this sounds useful get in touch.
Or perhaps you’re someone interested in joining our network? You can contact us to learn more.
Heard also run programmes in areas such as domestic abuse and sexual violence, migration, children’s palliative care, transgender experiences and climate change.
