Covering poverty: What to avoid and how to get it right This tip sheet, from two journalists who grew up poor and still have strong ties to the working class, is meant to help newsrooms do a better job covering poverty and people with limited resources. (Pixabay/Igor Ovsyannykov) Email Even before Donald Trump’s election victory took newsrooms nationwide by surprise, audiences criticized journalists as being disconnected from the communities they cover, especially poor and working-class communities. For many reporters, there’s not much time during the work week for building sources and exploring neighborhoods because their job responsibilities have grown so much in recent decades. But journalists themselves have changed as the field has evolved into an elite profession that draws well-educated men and women, many of whom come from middle-class families, went to the same colleges and move in the same social circles. Almost half the writers and editors at the