How Does Journalism Harm Homeless Humans?

    

It’s trying not to… usually

    In 2020 the AP Style guide adjusted its sensitivity recommendations to use the phrases “unhoused” or “people experiencing homelessness.”  The guide, and many other outlets, usually advocate for asking a source how they would like to be referred to. While many readers may think that this is unnecessary pandering to the unhoused community, the change is an intentional step in people first language.

Unfortunately, labels such as “homeless” are highly stigmatized in our culture. There are many stereotypes that hurt this community. It is the schema, created by the media, that leads people to cross the street and avoid eye contact under the assumption that an unhoused individual is dangerous.

For Example,

In November of 2024 FOX 5 reported a story called “Growing homeless encampment causes problems for apartments by UNLV.” This story followed a chronic camp of unhoused individuals, and  their affect on local apartments. While most of the story was tasteful and phrased well the individuals in the encampment were portrayed as dangerous faceless beings. The reporters neglected to include quotes from people in the encampment, but did include video of them from afar. This is fairly dehumanizing.

In a follow-up story, “Neighbors, apartments by UNLV remain frustrated with crime from homeless camps” the reporter  continues to avoid interviewing the unhoused individuals. The story reports that burglary and theft are down.

Neither story discusses any violent crime from any of the unhoused individuals, but they both alluded to the camps as dangerous. The reporter discussed a need to call police and “clean up” the area.  In a more positive light, the story did orient the solution towards placing individuals in shelters and the funding and availability of those shelters.  The stories on not as horrific as many in past years have been, but not speaking to or mentioning an attempt to speak to the people being accused is a major oversight.

Assumptions Lead to Bias

According to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, about 1.25 million American “experienced sheltered homelessness at some point in 2020.” Often, people drift in and out of being homeless, and do not fit our preconception of what a houseless person looks like. The USCH also clarifies that “Not having a home does not make someone a criminal,” and notes that “the infrequency of violent crimes committed by people experiencing homelessness,” leads to more media attention.

What we should instead examine is how often we report on crimes against the homeless population. Do these increasingly vulnerable human beings feel safe reporting crimes against them to the police? That is an investigation I would much rather read about.

All human beings have a right to their identity, and language is a powerful conduit for how that identity is portrayed. For the same reason that we, as journalists, respect sources’ pronouns, it is important to address the diversity of living situations.