ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the key factors behind the tokenisation of development in the news, which is divides into three broad groups: journalists' attempts to make poverty and development newsworthy at the expense of public understanding of them as a set of critical social issues and policies; the fact that journalists tend to subscribe, uncritically, to certain ideas predicated by 'economic science' about lifting people out of poverty; and the dominance of Western worldviews in development discourses, due to journalists' preference for elite news sources with "authoritative power" who impose a "tyranny of experts" and the practical constraints that they face in accessing alternative voices. Journalists reporting on development also confront a variety of other professional challenges. Access to alternative voices and views on development can also be impeded by journalists' cultural background. Proximity is one of the most crucial factors determining news agenda priorities.
