The Poverty Business: Qualitative Analysis of Czech Media from 2006 to 2017

Abstract

he poverty business has recently become a frequent issue in public discourse. The Program Declaration of the Government of the Czech Republic also reflects this, as the poverty business is mentioned here in relation to the abuse of the welfare system through overpriced lodging houses. In spite of the political significance oft he poverty business, the research on this issue has been scant. No attempt has even been made to clarify the meaning of this concept. This study is meant to be a first step in understanding the poverty business in the Czech context; it aims to explore how this phenomenon was represented in the Czech news media. The research was based on the theory of representation and qualitative content analysis, a method that was devised for thematic analysis of media content. The data were drawn from the Ano press IT database. Out of 1,277 texts containing the term “poverty business” and similar relevant terms, 66 texts were selected for the analysis. The analysis found that the poverty business is mainly presented as a matter of housing; however, other meanings were also identified, all of which were connected to the idea of exploitation of the poor and vulnerable segments of society. The victims of the poverty business include not only the clients of poverty entrepreneurs but also other people who were categorized according to their alleged decency or indecency. The consequences of the poverty business were seen as relating to clients, interethnic coexistence and the public administration. The main subjects identified in media communications were the state, municipality, and poverty entrepreneurs, who played the role of culprits, profiting subjects, and rectifiers. To conclude, the poverty business was represented asa highly politicized issue that concerns the misuse of housing benefits and is seen both as a socio-economic and ethno-cultural problem. The solution to the poverty business was mostly conceived as a technical intervention in to the welfare system, ignoring the agency of the victims of the poverty business.