Report Publish Date: April 29, 2024

This master's thesis analyzes local TV news coverage of homelessness in Minnesota’s Twin Cities metropolitan area from July 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023, leading up to and immediately following the city of Minneapolis declaring unsheltered homelessness a public health crisis. 

Primary Takeaways

The researchers’ content analysis found that local TV news coverage in the Twin Cities showed homelessness as an individual problem, rather than one with structural causes, and did not emphasize solutions. Stories associated homelessness with crime, and reporters rarely turned to those experiencing homelessness as sources.  Housing coverage, on the other hand, was more likely to discuss the structural causes of the crisis as well as solutions. 

Overview and Objectives

The city of Minneapolis declared a public health crisis concerning unsheltered homelessness on December 7, 2023. The author of this thesis wanted to look at how homelessness is depicted in the media. She wanted to see whether local nightly news stories conveyed information that could help the public better understand homelessness, its causes, and solutions or instead stigmatizes those experiencing homelessness and obscures the issue’s structural roots. 

Hypothesis or Approach 

Using content analysis research methods, the author and her research team analyzed stories about housing, homelessness, encampments, and encampment sweeps. From 487 late evening broadcasts, the team used keywords to assemble a sample of 230 stories that mentioned or featured homelessness or housing. This thesis describes the analysis of 20 randomized stories from that sample, which the team used as a pilot to prepare the codebook they later used to code the full sample. 

How This Influences Change

Better coverage of homelessness could lead to better public understanding and more willingness to support systemic solutions. The author suggests that newsrooms find ways to increase reporters’ willingness to speak with unhoused people and give them a voice on local TV.