Homeless Culture and the Media: How the Media Educate Audiences in Their Portrayal of America's Homeless Culture

This book explores how the homeless are portrayed by the media and, consequently, how public perceptions of the homeless are shaped. By analyzing how the media informally educate their audiences, interviewing homeless people and journalists, and conducting content analysis of news stories, this research uncovers the reality that the issue of homelessness is not a media priority because it does not provide the requisite ratings boost. This study also debunks the myth that the solution to a homeless person's problem is a meal and an overnight stay, illuminating how much farther the distance to becoming a "regular" person is. This book has received excellent reviews by researchers. Dr. Bob Gassaway, University of New Mexico states "it tells us about a piece of America few of us understand." Dr. Don Douglas of Biola University concurs: "Dr. Reynalds probes a dimension of life in modern America that is seldom addressed and begs for additional understanding."