EN
The paper is devoted to the analysis of the conventionalized representational practices being used to represent the poverty problem and the economically marginalized citizens in the information and entertainment media in Poland. The conventionalization as the phenomenon typical for the information formats may impede the empathy, nevertheless, it does not make it impossible. The attitude of entertainment media to the poverty, though, is much more problematic, as they define the underclass in their own, specific way, while providing the readers and the viewers with the voyeuristic pleasures of watching its members struggle to alter their economic status.