New research shows that the gap between the rich and poor in the United States in 2012 rose at the fastest rate since 1928. This revelation comes at a time when television and print media outlets largely underreport economic inequality.

According to research from economists at the University of California, Berkeley, the Paris School of Economics, and Oxford University, in 2012, incomes for those in the top 1 percent of earners rose by roughly 20 percent. According to the Associated Press, the share of income captured by the wealthiest was the highest since 1928, a year before the onset of the Great Depression .

The remaining 99 percent of earners, meanwhile, saw a 1 percent increase in income.

The research findings reinforce previous warnings from economists that rising income inequality poses a threat to economic well-being.

While economists have repeatedly shown that income inequality is a real, systemic issue in the American economy, media outlets have largely shirked their duty in reporting the problem over recent months.

A recent Media Matters report on economic inequality coverage in local print outlets found that, of articles with substantial mentions of policies and programs that affect low-income individuals, only 19 percent mentioned structural inequality and poverty. 

The lack of coverage of inequality in local print media follows a similar pattern shown in nightly cable and broadcast news. Over the second quarter of 2013, only 9.3 percent of news segments on the economy mentioned inequality and the impact of current policies on low-income households

With news that economic inequality is reaching historical highs, media have a responsibility to bring this to light.