Introduction
Poverty is defined as the state within which a person is not capable of meeting their basic needs as they do not have the required amount of money to fulfil their needs. It can also be stated as the situation within which the person does not have enough resources to provide for the necessities of life. Currently, within the UK, families are facing the issue due to poverty, and as a result of this, the overall management of the family is not proper. There is a lack of money, and ultimately, it poses a major issue for the families to manage and fulfil their basic requirements. Based on the statistics, it was clear that around 1 in 5 people were in poverty during 2022/23, which is around 14.3 million people. From this, nearly 8.1 million included the working adults, 4.3 were children, and the remaining 1.9 million of the people were the pensioners. More simply, it is stated that 2 in every 10 people is under poverty and among children 3 in every 10 are facing the issue of poverty (More than one in three children in poverty as UK deprivation hits record high, 2025).
With the management of this issue, the media plays a crucial role as it helps and supports the working better. This is because when the media supports the issue, better coverage is provided, and better outcomes can be included. For example, with the help of the media, different types of research can be conducted relating to poverty and how this is affecting the working of the families. With good media research, the different strategies can be outlined, and better solutions can be provided for eradicating the issue and trying to improve the working better. The current report will outline the review of the media article. At last, the critique of the content will be done, along with the analysis and evaluation of the different sources.
Main Body
Summary of media article
The present article selected for the evaluation is titled ‘More than one in three children in poverty as UK deprivation hits record high’. This article was written by Josh Halliday and is being published by The Guardian. This is a particular news article which has been published by the Guardian, and it is particularly related to poverty. This whole article is about poverty and includes all the different types of data and statistics relating to it. Along with this, the article also includes the different types of issues along with poverty (Adjei et al, 2022). This includes discussion relating to the elements like the poverty has also increased among the lone parents as well. With the article, it was concluded that many different families were struggling to live a better life within the country. This was particularly for the reason that proper household support funds were not present, and as a result of this, the overall vulnerability will be faced. This creates a major impact on the working of the families and as a result the overall working is impacted (McKinlay et al, 2022). Moreover, the article also emphasised the fact that poverty is impacting the work of the people living within the country as when they do not have enough money, then they will not be able to manage the work well. Thus, as a result of this, many different types of issues are faced by the people in maintaining a normal and basic life.
Critiquing of the content
When there is high poverty then it is very difficult for the families in managing a proper life and it creates an issues and problems for the family to maintain the correct working. Thus, this difficulty to manage the funds creates and develops certain types of vulnerabilities and risks for the children within the family. The most common risk is that the child can go into depression and have other mental health issues. It is due to the reason that with the modernisation the working and cultural trends have changed a lot (Graham, 2023). Thus, as a result of this, the children are at high risk as when the parents will not be having money then the need and requirement of children will not be fulfilled. Thus, ultimately, it will result in children getting into depression and also other different mental health issues and stress. This is particularly for the reason that when the family is not having enough money then the need and demand of the children will not be fulfilled. Ultimately, it will result in an increase in the risk of mental trauma and stress and eventually, their decision-making skills will be impacted.
With the further examination of the article, Butler et al, (2022) stated that it is clear that the current article lists out the different problems which the families are facing. Due to poverty, there are many different types of issues and problems which the family faces as there is a lack of money, and because of this, the parents have to make many different types of adjustments to oversee the working of their child and improve their well-being. The most common issue that the family faces is that due to lack of money, the family is not able to provide basic food and clothes to their children. This impacts the self-respect and esteem of the parents as well. This is due to the reason that currently parents also live in a society were esteem and respect need to be maintained (Adisa, Ogbonnaya and Adekoya, 2023). Thus, the families face many difficulties in managing and overcoming the negative effects of poverty. Moreover, a large number of people are living in poverty, which forces them to live a life which is not comfortable and ultimately creates a negative impact on the mental health and well-being of the people.
This is a problem which is faced by the majority of the people living in the UK. Hence, it is the responsibility of the people, the regulatory authorities and the government they try to overcome this issue well. In the article, Helen Barnard, who is the director of policy at the Trussel Trust, stated that the increase of children within the poverty section was alarming. This was supported by the fact that thus trust has distributed around 3 million of emergency food parcels within March 2024. This number is almost double the data recorded 5 years before this current time. With this, it is clear that the government and non-government companies and officials are undertaking different steps and interventions to solve the problem well (Lister, 2021). Despite the assistance from the government and other officials, the state of poverty is not much solved, and this impacts the working of the country greatly. Moreover, when too much help is provided to the poor people then they become habitual of this and as a result this they do not try to work and do any of the hard work. Thus, ultimately, it will be impacting the overall working capability, and the situation of poverty will not be improved in any condition.
But on a critical note, it is the responsibility of the government and non-government officials they try to empower the society and the families so that better upliftment of the society can take place. For this, the most important aspect is to increase the employment opportunities within the economy. This is because when more people are provided with good employment opportunities, they will be in a position to earn money. With the proper saving of the money the families can try to manage the work and as a result of this the difficulties of the family can be solved. It is due to the reason that when people will be having money then many of the problems will be solved and ultimately it will be helping them to overcome their difficulties and lead a better life (Middlemiss, 2022). Along with this, it is also necessary for the officials to empower people within the society. This is necessary because when effective empowerment is promoted, the people will be in a position to manage and improve the work. Also, the empowerment will make the other people feel that they are also capable of doing the work. Thus, it will result in better management of the money, and ultimately, people will try to overcome the issue of poverty and will be supporting their children to grow and develop.
Moreover, the article also highlighted that the state plays a crucial role in the protection of vulnerable populations. This is necessary because the state is responsible for the management of the vulnerable population. In case proper care is not provided to the people then the overall working will be affected of the country. When the level of poverty will not be improved, then it will be affecting the economic condition of the country and ultimately the competitive position will not be good (Attanasio, Cattan and Meghir, 2022). Furthermore, with the help of these different types of measures, it is clear that the company will be in a position to manage and monitor the working well. Also, the compliance with the different types of strategies for reducing the poverty state will assist the country to overall develop the working and as a result the overall capability will be improved.
Evaluating the sources
The sources used within the current type of the article were very reliable and authentic. All the information presented in the article was correctly referenced and cited. This is crucial because when effective sources are used, then it will be providing more accurate and appropriate information. Thus, as a result of this, better information is provided in the article. Further, to make the things more accurate and effective, the proper statistics and data are being used and help make the readers understand all the necessary things appropriately (Cong et al, 2022). Hence, in the current article, the study of the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) has been effectively included in the work. The present commission has provided many different types of knowledge and data relating to the condition of poverty. This has improved the working of the article as with the help of the report of this commission the findings of the current article has been authenticated more effectively. Along with the findings of this commission, the author has also included the different spokesperson and their views as well. It is due to the reason that when the views of different spokespersons are included in the study, then it is more assistive in managing the findings well and also, the data is authenticated well (Wang, Lan and Wang, 2021). Moreover, the article has also provided different charts and graphs, which makes the findings clearer. For instance, with the graph, it was visible that a total of 36 % of the children in the UK were living in poverty, and 13 % were pension age adults along with 23 % of working age adults. This simply means that presenting the information graphically was assistive in managing the work better.
Conclusion
At last, it is concluded that while living in the external environment, there are many different types of issues and difficulties which the people and family face. The above discussion highlighted that poverty is the major issue that the families are currently facing. Also, the above discussion evaluated that the media review is assistive in managing the problem and highlighting the major issues well. The findings of the selected article supported the fact that poverty is the major issue that the families are facing, and because of this, the children face different issues like depression, anxiety and other issues. Moreover, it also analysed that the government and other officials are taking many different measures to reduce poverty like increasing the employment opportunities and many other different kind of the strategies. At last, it was analysed that having good sources within the article is very necessary as it authenticates all working and findings in a better manner.
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References
Books and Journals
Adisa, T. A., Ogbonnaya, C., & Adekoya, O. D. (2023). Remote working and employee engagement: a qualitative study of British workers during the pandemic. Information Technology & People, 36(5), 1835-1850.
Adjei, N. K., Schlüter, D. K., Straatmann, V. S., Melis, G., Fleming, K. M., McGovern, R., ... & Taylor-Robinson, D. C. (2022). Impact of poverty and family adversity on adolescent health: a multi-trajectory analysis using the UK Millennium Cohort Study. The Lancet Regional Health–Europe, 13.
Attanasio, O., Cattan, S., & Meghir, C. (2022). Early childhood development, human capital, and poverty. Annual Review of Economics, 14(1), 853-892.
Butler, N., Quigg, Z., Bates, R., Jones, L., Ashworth, E., Gowland, S., & Jones, M. (2022). The contributing role of family, school, and peer supportive relationships in protecting the mental wellbeing of children and adolescents. School Mental Health, 14(3), 776-788.
Cong, S., Nock, D., Qiu, Y. L., & Xing, B. (2022). Unveiling hidden energy poverty using the energy equity gap. Nature communications, 13(1), 2456.
Graham, H. (2023). Being poor: perceptions and coping strategies of lone mothers. In Give and Take in Families (pp. 56-74). Routledge.
Lister, R. (2021). Poverty. John Wiley & Sons.
McKinlay, A. R., May, T., Dawes, J., Fancourt, D., & Burton, A. (2022). ‘You’re just there, alone in your room with your thoughts’: a qualitative study about the psychosocial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among young people living in the UK. BMJ open, 12(2), e053676.
Middlemiss, L. (2022). Who is vulnerable to energy poverty in the Global North, and what is their experience?. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, 11(6), e455.
Wang, W., Lan, Y., & Wang, X. (2021). Impact of livelihood capital endowment on poverty alleviation of households under rural land consolidation. Land Use Policy, 109, 105608.
Online
More than one in three children in poverty as UK deprivation hits record high. 2025. Online. Available through: <https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/nov/18/more-than-one-in-three-uk-children-poverty-deprivation-record-high>
