When politicians (through speeches and policy) and the media (through reality television or stigmatizing reports) teach us to see poverty as a result of others' bad choices rather than a systemic problem, it becomes socially acceptable. In this way, poverty and poverty stigma reinforce each other.

That is an interesting point. The people who shift the blame to the poor don't actually care why they are poor, they just need some sort of circular logic to maintain a scapegoat. If government policies make the scapegoats poorer it, is proof of their bad decisions and they deserve even more blame.