Midwest

These are Gender Checks of two sites from the Midwest — St. Louis Post-Dispatch and St. Louis Beacon.

Gender check: 4/28/11 – Midwest

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

*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 1 p.m. (MST) Thursday, April 28, was titled “Ill. House considers higher limits for big rigs on stretches of I-270, I-255.” Its subject was department of transportation officials discouraging lawmakers from a proposal to bring trucks up the same speed as cars on four-lane rural highways in the state.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, executive director, trucking association

2. Male, director of traffic safety for IDOT


Website: St. Louis Beacon

On the St. Louis Beacon, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 1 p.m. (MST) Thursday, April 28, was titled “Missouri House, Senate cut deal on redistricting.” Its subject was the Missouri Legislature reaching a compromise on congressional districts.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Dual (female and male)

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1.  Male, house majority leader

2. Female, spokeswoman for senate president pro tem

3. Male, congress member

4. Male, senate redistricting chairman

5. Male, state senator

6. Female, US. representative

7. Male, state Republican Party chairman

8. Male, house minority leader

Notes/analysis: All the state legislators mentioned in the article were male. We’ve covered the gender breakdown of the Missouri Legislature in an earlier Gender Check. Review it here.

Gender check: 4/21/11 -Midwest

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

*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 1 p.m. (MST) Thursday, April 21, was titled “As hail falls, stories about softballs fly.” Its subject was reports on hail size from a recent storm.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, weather service meteorologist

Notes/analysis:


Website: St. Louis Beacon

On the St. Louis Beacon, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 1 p.m. (MST) Thursday, April 21, was titled “Survival jobs: A temporary strategy is becoming the new normal.” Its subject was about  those who were laid off from higher paying or more career-oriented jobs becoming underemployed so they aren’t unemployed.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, employed in a “survival job,” underemployed

2. Female, former chair of President’s Council of Economic Advisers (while on a panel)

3. Female, federal reserve economist, along with researcher (gender unverifiable) (from study report they wrote)

4. Male, labor analyst

Notes/analysis: It is interesting to note that the author chose a male source as the underemployed example in this story, since it adds to the “mancession” story of the Great Recession. The Gender Report has touched on that briefly in the most recent Week in Review, which noted that the overall unemployment rate is 1 percent higher for men than women over the age of 16, but single women were still hit the hardest by the rise in unemployment. It would be interesting to know what the stats show for this other category the article touches on — those in survival jobs.

Gender check: 4/7/11 – Midwest

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

*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 1 p.m. (MST) Thursday, April 7, was titled “2nd Winfield High student being questioned in alleged plot for school massacre.” Its subject was an update attached to an initial story about a student being arrest for allegedly plotting a mass shooting at his school.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, sheriff’s department major

2. Male, suspect (according to police)

Notes/analysis: All three students referred to in this story as being involved, questioned or informants are male.

Website: St. Louis Beacon

On the St. Louis Beacon, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 1 p.m. (MST) Thursday, April 7, was titled “Curtain rises again on Edwardsville’s Wildey Theatre.” Its subject was the grand reopening of a theater building after a renovation and remodel that also inspired others in the downtown area to follow suit.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, alderman

2. Male, project consultant

3. Female, alderman

Gender check: 3/31/11 – Midwest

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

*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 1:15 p.m. (MST) Thursday, March 31, was titled “Judge declares Missouri ethics law unconstitutional.” Its subject was a county judge declaring an ethics law passed by the state legislature the prior year unconstitutional because it covers multiple subjects.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Unknown, official for ethics commission (unnamed)

2. Male, circuit judge

3. Male, county attorney


Website: St. Louis Beacon

On the St. Louis Beacon, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 1:15 p.m. (MST)  Thursday, March 31, was titled “Earnings tax backers stage big effort to get out the vote.” Its subject was efforts to get people out to vote for Prop E, to keep a 1 percent earnings tax as a part of the city’s budget. It currently accounts for one-third of the budget, or $140 million.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, spokesman for campaign for Prop E

2. Male, spokesman for group against

3. Male, spokesman for campaign for Prop A (unnamed)

4. Female, spokeswoman for male businessman (unnamed)

5. Female, spokeswoman for male mayor (unnamed)

6. Male, spokesman for female comptroller

Notes/analysis: This article was heavily reliant on spokespeople for organizations or individuals. It’s interesting to note that those who spoke for individuals were always of the opposite gender of the person they spoke on behalf. Both spokeswomen were unnamed, as was one of four spokesmen.

Gender check: 3/24/11 – Midwest

Jasmine R. LinabaryLeave a comment

*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 5:30 p.m. (MST) March 24, was titled “Tiny Missouri town is perfectly centered.” Its subject was a town being names the U.S.’s new population center.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, chairman of city’s board

2. Male, director of the Census Bureau

Website: St. Louis Beacon

On the St. Louis Beacon, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 5:30 p.m. (MST) March 24, was titled “Federal regulators say Midwest BankCentre’s fair lending record ‘needs to improve.’” Its subject was was the release of a fair lending performance review report that showed that a bank “needs to improve.”

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, chairman of the bank

2. Female, assistant director of equal housing opportunity council

Notes/analysis: The article quotes mainly from the report.