*Gender Checks are quick examinations of gender representation in individual news articles for the purpose of discovering trends over time. Click here to read more.
Website: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (stltoday.com)
On Stltoday.com, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 9:30 a.m. (PST) Thursday, July 7, was titled “St. Louis closes 18th Street bridge for emergency repairs.” Its subject was closures as a result of repairs to a bridge.
Here is its gender breakdown:
–Author: Male
–Human sources (listed in order mentioned):
- Male, traffic commissioner
Notes/analysis: The story was only five graphs long and simply detailed expected closures, delays and alternative routes.
Website: St. Louis Beacon
- St. Louis Beacon, 7/7/11
On the St. Louis Beacon, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 9:30 a.m. (PST) July 7, was titled “As anti-terrorism funding shrinks, controversy grows over how to spend it.” Its subject was cuts to funding bringing about debates in how the security funds should be used.
Here is its gender breakdown:
–Author: Male
–Human sources (listed in order mentioned):
- Female, Department of Homeland secretary
- Male, U.S. representative
- Male, U.S. representative
- Male, public safety administrator
- Female, director of emergency services and homeland security
- Male, task force member
- Male, research fellow
- Male, U.S. senator
- Male, spokesman for male U.S. representative
- Female, spokeswoman for female U.S. senator
- Male, U.S. representative
- Male, spokesman for male U.S. senator
Notes/analysis: The article also contains a number of mug shots of sources — four of men and one of a woman.
The Gender Report 