AUWU calls on media to verify claims; publishes 'Reporter's Guide to Unemployment Myths'
The AUWU responds to an onslaught of unfair media coverage about people on income support
The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union calls upon all news outlets to verify, or omit from their stories, claims made about the behaviour or motives of people on income support payments.
Over the past week several major media outlets in Australia have published what appear to be disingenuous or blatantly misleading claims about people who access income support turning down work.
Comments published this week expose that the politicians and employers being quoted don't even understand the welfare system well enough to lie about it – what’s worse is that it appears news organisations don’t either, or haven’t bothered to check self-serving claims.
The AUWU believes the media may be unwittingly facilitating an orchestrated attempt to demonise unemployed people and soften up the public to accept millions being thrown into deep poverty on 24 September, which we’ve dubbed #PovertyDay.
The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union has produced a Reporter’s Guide to Unemployment Myths and is distributing this to journalists, both proactively and in response to stories we believe to be irresponsible or unbalanced.
The guide is available to download via this link: https://1drv.ms/b/s!Ao2X7nRblAZUhIQfcm7TE6a05AjZoA?e=rv9kch
Media contact: 0413 261 362 / media @ auwu.org.au
Sign up to receive AUWU statements in your inbox as soon as they are published.
