Sacramento's humble "tent city" has gone international.

Across the country and around the world, newspaper readers and television viewers are being introduced to the sprawling campground where 100 to 200 homeless men and women sleep each night.

The tent city is on YouTube. Television crews from Germany, London and Switzerland have visited. The New York Times published a story about it. "Inside Edition" spent an entire day at the camp of tattered dome tents in the shadow of the Blue Diamond almond processing plant.

But not all publicity is good publicity, government leaders are finding out.

The huge wave of media attention that followed a recent Oprah Winfrey program featuring the tent city has spurred donations, ideas and volunteers. But it also has complicated things for officials who suddenly have found themselves in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

"People are genuinely concerned, but all of the international attention actually is impeding us in some ways," said Assistant City Manager Cassandra Jennings.

Jennings is at the center of a heated debate about whether Sacramento should make the campground legal and provide basic services, including portable bathrooms and water. The city and county are trying to resolve a class-action lawsuit about their treatment of homeless residents, and the media crush "is a huge distraction," Jennings said.

"We have been focused on these issues since way before the big light turned onto us," she said.

Advocates for the homeless are thrilled that the issue is getting so much attention, said Joan Burke of Loaves & Fishes, which runs various programs for homeless people in Sacramento.

"I think that people are genuinely shocked that there is such a thing as a tent city in America," Burke said. "There is great interest in the question, 'How did we let things get this bad?' Of course, all of this publicity is making things difficult for the city, because they have failed to address the problem."

But even advocates acknowledge that some of the reporting has been misleading or downright inaccurate. Various media outlets have reported that 1,200 people live at the camp, four to five times higher than the actual population of the tent city on any given night, they said. The larger number represents the total number of homeless people living in shelters, camps and other places in the Sacramento area.

Some news organizations are erroneously portraying the tent city "as a refugee camp" for formerly middle-class people who have been hit by the recession, said Tim Brown of the Sacramento Ending Chronic Homeless Initiative.

"While it's very true that we are seeing increasing numbers of middle-class families hitting the streets, it's still a very small percentage," Brown said. "At tent city, 90 percent of the people are chronically homeless."

The widespread publicity has prompted numerous people, most with good intentions, to drop off food, water, clothing and other supplies at the campsite, which is located on land owned by public and private parties. But items are piling up and being left behind, angering neighborhood residents and others who use the American River Parkway.

"The intentions are good, but the neighborhoods are heavily impacted and are complaining vociferously," said Brown. "All of this attention certainly hasn't helped the camp's relationship with immediate neighbors."

The attention also has made things more complicated for residents of the camp, some of whom are growing weary of being gawked at and photographed, said Sister Libby Fernandez of Loaves & Fishes.

"It was great that the media highlighted a problem, and that people are reaching out," she said. "But now it's starting to affect the morale and dignity of the homeless people themselves.

"If people want to donate, it's better for them to bring things to organizations that serve the poor than take them out to tent city," said Fernandez. "We've been doing this for 26 years and we do it in an orderly, just and fair way."

Yet the attention has been a boon in some ways, advocates acknowledged. Loaves & Fishes and other agencies have received a bump in donations of everything from tents to diapers. Businesses have offered to fund portable toilets and garbage bins. Advocacy groups have seen a swelling of the volunteer ranks.

"We usually have 10 people at our volunteer orientations," said Burke. "This past Saturday we had 40 people come. The reaction we have seen is very genuine and very positive overall."

The media wave, Fernandez said, may be just the wedge needed to force the government to address issues around the growing homeless population. For years, advocates have pushed for more shelter beds and a legal campground where chronically homeless people could live without fear of citations. Now city leaders are talking seriously with advocates, neighbors and others about how to make those things happen.

Mayor Kevin Johnson, who has supported the idea of a legal campground, said in a press release Friday that he and others feel "a renewed sense of urgency" to take care of homeless people while dealing with public health and safety issues.

But advocates expressed skepticism that those talks will lead to real solutions.

"This kind of publicity always has the short-term potential of motivating policymakers to address the immediate crisis," said Bob Erlenbusch, a consultant on homelessness for a nonprofit organization, Light of Change.

"That usually means a Band-Aid, temporary solution, until the media spotlight dies down. Then it's back to business as usual, which means turning a blind eye to the crisis of homelessness in our community."

Call The Bee's Cynthia Hubert, (916) 321-1082.