Working people hidden by TV company in Benefits Street
A working couple who were filmed over the course of a year for hated welfare-bashing programme Benefits Street were cut from it in a rush to show the worst excesses of claimant behaviour.
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A working couple who were filmed over the course of a year for hated welfare-bashing programme Benefits Street were cut from it in a rush to show the worst excesses of claimant behaviour.
Encouraged by the 'success' of Channel 5's recent car-crash programme 'On Benefits and Proud', which gave a voice to experienced Jeremy Kyle guests while pretending to illuminate Britain, Channel 4 is weighing in on the welfare debate.
'Benefits Street' claims it "reveals the reality of life on benefits" from the neighbourhood in Birmingham which has more claimants than any other, but the history of programmes in this area is shameful, so what will it really bring to the party?
Channel 5 is showing a new documentary tonight at 9.00 pm, and UnemployedNet will be tweeting live during it.
The show, On Benefits and Proud, looks likely to be another demolition job on workless people and other claimants, and we will be watching over it and trying to put some facts into the mix.
The Department for Work and Pensions press site has crossed the line between information provision and tabloid-style reporting.
It has published a press release titled 'Drag artist jailed for benefit fraud' - days after most media outlets picked it up - on the case of Mark Hawthorne, a 49 year old from Staffordshire.
The Mail has fed its readers more misinformation in its ongoing campaign against social security and claimants.
The paper has splashed a list of the top ten biggest benefit fraudsters in the UK, crediting Ian Duncan Smith as the source, but it has dropped a huge clanger.
Could the average taxpayer live on benefits?
This question will be asked by a new BBC 1 show - We All Pay Your Benefits - to be broadcast tomorrow at 9.00 pm, which sees The Apprentice's Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford challenge four employed people to live on unemployment benefits to try to get a better undestanding of the problems it brings.