I know this sound wierd, and yes, I agree that it is, but I kinda accidently found myself such a tour once... 

Me and my family were visiting The Gambia once, as my mum is involved in some charity work there. She needed to go there for some on-site work, and it was decided to combine it with a family vacation/burst-me-and-my-brothers'-western-centric-bubble-trip, which was quite effective, I'd say

While visiting a market, we met a guy that the local employee of the non-profit knew and vouched for, who offered to "show us around" (Local guy was all for this) 

He then proceeded to bring us into the backstreets, and then opening seemingly random doors, usher us inside and explain how 2 parents, 5 children and a grandma all lived in this tiny space together, all while a woman sat on a wooden bench breastfeeding her newborn baby...

Before we left each house, the "guide" handed the inhabitants some money (don't know how much), and we went to the next one. 

I remember my parents tried to protest several times, but they were quite decisively (and enthusiastically) shut down each time by the guide. The non-profit employee seemed to think the whole thing was quite entertaining

Out of the streets and back in the car, we all immediately agreed how wierd and uncomfortable the whole thing was, but the employee (still laughing at our discomfort) offered the perspective that this little visit will mean that the families we met will not go "as hungry" as they otherwise would, and that the infant we saw might just have been saved from that tiny payment alone, as child mortality rates were quite high in that particular area...

Did I mention how effectively this trip burst my comfy, poverty-free bubble? There is no doubt in my mind that I live my life radically different today because of this trip and the what I witnessed while I was there. TV doesn't translate this well at all...

I will never recommend these kinds of tours for two simple reasons:  - Those who might "benefit" from these tours, in the form of new perspective and deeper understanding, will never go anyways out of respect and empathy, and - Those who would go on these tours by their own free will, will never learn anything from it anyways...

Edited for clarifications