Appalachian reaction to '20/20' story is mixed, but the complaints appear stronger than the praise

Diane Sawyer and ABC News have elicited strong reactions to their "20/20" documentary, "A Hidden America: Children of the Mountains." As of 4 p.m. Monday, 1,633 comments had been posted on the story's Web page. In Central Appalachia, the focus of the Friday night report on poverty and social ills in the region, the initial complaints appear to be stronger than the praise. But the dialogue continues.

Chris Green, a teacher of Appalachian literature and culture at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., told the local Herald-Dispatch "that while the broadcast touched on the severe problems faced by some in the mountains, it was ultimately a gross stereotype," Bill Rosenberger reported. Green said, "Sawyer has selected special cases and represented them in a way that blames the victim by providing almost no discussion of the larger social economic realities, both in Appalachia and in America. We would all have been better off without it."

But Dee Davis of the Eastern Kentucky-based Center for Rural Strategies, who appeared on the show, said it told some uncomfortable truths that need to be told about persistent poverty, low education, poor health status and prescription-drug addiction. In an interview with The Rural Blog, he noted the report's point that that southeastern Kentucky's 5th Congressional District has the nation's lowest life expectancy life expectancy, "less than Mexico and China," and asked, "Who’s dealing with it? The newspapers aren’t spending a lot of time dealing with it, the television stations aren’t dealing with it. Where are our journalists dealing with it?" If Sawyer and her producers "weren’t gonna tell that, who’s gonna tell it?"

Perhaps the most common criticism was that in 39 minutes of journalism, the report offered little explanation for causes of the problems, and no menu of solutions. "I wondered why Sawyer didn’t go into more depth on the probable cause of the poverty and the vicious cycle that kept these places poor," Betty Dotson-Lewis wrote for the Daily Yonder. "I wondered why she did not bring in a panel of experts to give viewers ideas on how this cycle can be broken and if people want to help, how." (Read more)

The ABC team did conduct reporting on causes and solutions, and Producer Claire Weinraub told The Rural Blog that Sawyer and ABC are considering more reports that would address public-policy questions. "We want to have a dialogue [to] figure out what policies are out there that are viable," she said. Meanwhile, we will continue to follow the dialogue -- and encourage journalists in Appalachia to do their own reporting on the issues, not just the complaints.

UPDATE, Feb. 17: As often happens with such projects, the documentary has prompted charity for its subjects. Sawyer reported on "Good Morning America" today that a child with a drug-addicted mother is getting a tutor and an education trust fund; another is getting clothes and house repairs; and a high-school football star who lived in a truck to escape his dysfunctional family has been offered college scholarships and jobs. Also, Pepsico will help a dentist who tagged its Mountain Dew as a major cause of tooth decay; "We will tell you about that later this week," Sawyer promised.