Benefits street powerpoint

1. The ‘Benefits Street’
controversy
BY REEMA CHAUHAN

2. The Brief
 When the documentary Benefits Street was broadcast in 2014, it proved controversial, with some of
the participants unhappy with the final programmes objecting that they had been misled about the
intentions of the show.
 Research the show, and the controversy, on the web, and watch some footage from the show.
Explore the extent to which the programme makers shaped and manipulated the representation of
their working class subjects. To what extent do you think objections to the programme are
justified?

3. What is the show about?
 This documentary follows the lives of some of the residents who live on James Turner Street which
is located in Birmingham.
 There are a number of different controversies for this show in relation to how it really represents the
lives of working class people and whether the residents were purposely presented in a negative
light by Channel 4 without realizing it.
 When the first show aired, social media websites such as Twitter sparked a huge reaction to the
show where in many viewers responded with nasty responses to the residents on the street
including death threats. For example, “I want to walk down Benefits Street with a baseball bat and
brain a few of these scumbags”. Ofcom gathered approximately 100 complaints about the
programme where half are believed to be due to the twitter threats and comments.

4. The extent of the controversy : the facts
and statistics
 The total number of complaints to Ofcom were 960 and to Channel 4 800.
 Over 60,000 people signed a petition to cancel the programme.
 There was a follow up programme called “The Big Benefits Row : Live” hosted by Channel 5 which
was watched by 2.1 million people.
 Both newspaper companies the ‘Daily Mail’ and ‘The Guardian’ in Jan 2014 reported that “90% of
the streets residents are benefits claimants”.
 The series was even talked about in the House of Commons which sparked a political debate about
the welfare of the working class.
 The ’success’ of ’Benefits Street’ meant that Channel 4 were given their highest viewing figures for
any show since 2012.

5. What is on the Channel 4 website itself?
 A number of the residents believed that when the show was
recording it was about community spirit and how they help
each other through their daily struggles. However, after
seeing it for themselves they felt “tricked” as they were
actually portrayed as being dependent on benefits due to the
title of the programme.
 I thought it would be interesting to look at the Channel 4
website itself to see how it portrays the members of the
programmes and how the episodes are described.
 I will be looking at the profiles, videos and episode
descriptions that the website has to offer in order to evaluate
whether the programme did manipulate the representation of
the working class members featured.
 The main image on the home page is a midshot of Julie and
Sue. The body language and happy facial expressions
highlight the “spirit of the community”. This is far from the
representation of the show being about “criminal activity” as
many viewers complained that the show promoted illegal
activity according to West Midlands Police.

6. Website : profiles
 There are four profiles on the website for the residents who are Julie, Sue, Dot and Lee. All four profiles have a
sympathetic tone to them in which the readers are encouraged to not think negatively of the residents but to instead
understand their struggles due to the problems they have faced in the past.
 On Julie’s profile, we learn that her son has a critical physical condition and that she has ”dedicated her life” to caring
for her son. Therefore, this suggests that Channel 4 want the viewers to realize and understand that Julie is not living
on benefits due to the main ideology that people are ”lazy” but that she is a hard working mother.
 This links closely to Lee’s profile where he describes himself as working “all over the country” but now depends on
benefits due to ill health. A figure of £45 is given to show that this is the amount of money he has to live on in a
week. As a reader, I am quite shocked at how low this is.
 Therefore, from inspecting these profiles, I believe that Channel 4 did not trick the residents as they are showing
them in a very sympathetic light in which the reader is invited to learn personal information about the reality of their
lives.

7. Website : videos
 “S1-E1 : James Turner Street” – There are both positive and negative portrayals of the residents in this
clip. The negative aspects include the close up of the beer can to maybe imply underage drinking, a huge
heap of rubbish in the middle of the street to show the mess created by the residents and also a close up
shot of a young child kicking another member of the street. The positive aspects include the diegetic
dialogue of a woman describing the importance of the community and for people to look after each
other in order for the street to survive.
 ”S2–E4 : Christmas Time” - A resident describes how at Christmas time money is especially tight and that
loan sharks take advantage of this by setting a high interest on the loans. We see a young woman
pushing her child in a pushchair who has a grim facial expression.
 Overall, these two videos

8. Website : episode descriptions
 The episodes are all described as showing
“the reality of life on benefits”. The main
ideology of those that life on benefits from
the middle and upper class are that they are
undeserving of them due to , for example,
laziness and being uneducated. However,
this description here implies that Channel 4
are revealing the truth about working class
struggles and offer a counter argument/idea
to the one mentioned above.

9. Conclusion: Newspaper quotes
 Mirror: “Benefits Street caused more controversy tonight when one resident is filmed
seemingly using drugs and opening bragging about growing them”
 Daily mail: “No, Benefits Street does NOT demonise the poor. But it shows how
immoral it is to let welfare pay more than working.”
 Independent: “ ‘Benefits Street’ : Channel 4 documentary sparks anger and threats of
violence”
 All these quotes from online articles sums up how there was a generally quite negative
view about the show. If we presume that the preferred reading (Stuart Hall’s audience
theory) is that Channel 4 wants to portray a balanced view of the members on the
street, the above opinions are the oppositional reading and is probably viewed by
many middle class people in the UK. It seems that Channel 4 was more successful in
creating controversy than providing a balanced view of the working class members of
society who are on benefits.