Gender Checks

Gender check: 2/15/11 – West

Jasmine R. Linabary1 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: Seattle Times

On the Seattle Times, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 12:30 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, Feb. 15, was titled “Data center may be too big for state needs.” Its subject was the cost of a complex being built to consolidate roughly three dozen state data centers.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Female, spokeswoman, Department of Information Services

2. Male, representative to state legislature (Republican)

3. Male, representative (Democrat)

4. Female, development manager

5. Male, OFM deputy director

Notes/analysis: Both women mentioned are with the department that will operate the center.


Website: Seattle P-I

On the Seattle P-I, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 12:30 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, Feb. 15, was titled “Teen kicked by Seattle cop wants $450,000 from city.” Its subject subject was a case of alleged police abuse during a drug bust as well as a roundup of recent cases of police abuse caught on video.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, attorney

2. Male, deputy chief

3. Male, officers guild president

4. Male, prosecutor

5. Male, city attorney

Notes/analysis: Most sources were paraphrased. Most of the individuals mentioned in the story are male, with the exception of two teenage girls (one of which was punched in the face by an officer) and U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan, who with others will meet to respond to requests to investigate the department.

Gender check: 2/10/11 – Midwest

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*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 the Stltoday.com, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 3:30 p.m. (MST) Thursday, Feb. 10, was titled “Busch girlfriend had lethal doses of cocaine and oxycodone; no prosecution planned.” Its subject was the cause of death of the girlfriend of the former chief executive of Anheuser-Busch.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, prosecuting attorney

2. Male, boyfriend of the deceased

Notes/analysis: It’s noteworthy that the deceased woman whose death is the subject of the story is always defined as being a famous man’s girlfriend, in the headline and the lede. There are details about earlier parts of his life, but readers, at least of this particular article, learn nothing about her — where she’s from, what she did, her family, etc. The only background about her is that she’d been dating him for two years.


Website: St. Louis Beacon

On the St. Louis Beacon, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 3:30 p.m. (MST) Thursday, Feb. 10 was titled “The bigger picture of Pruitt-Igoe.” Its subject was a documentary about the myths surrounding a federal housing project.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, resident in housing project

2. Male, documentary producer

3. Male, director

4. Male, journalist

5. Female, film participant

Notes/analysis: The article also contains three mug shots, all of male sources.

Gender Check 2/9/11 – Northeast

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*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: The New York Times

On The New York Times, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 5 p.m. EST on Feb. 9 was titled “NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Borse in Merger Talks.” Its subject was the developing talks which would lead to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange acquiring the NYSE.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Males (two bylines)

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. male – analyst

Notes/analysis: Most of the article was numbers-based and information came from released company statements rather than human interviews.

Website: ProPublica

On ProPublica, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 5 p.m. EST on Feb. 9 was titled “Gov’t Considering Rolling Back Rule Against Private Planes To Keep Flights Secret.” Its subject was a possible change in the U.S. Department of Transportation policy to allow the public to track private flights in real time.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. male – president of National Business Aviation Society (from a published letter on the organization’s website)

2. female – FAA spokeswoman

Notes/analysis: This is a developing story, so most of the information is simply updating announcements or developments from the parties involved.

Gender check: 2/8/11 – West

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: Seattle Times

On the Seattle Times, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 3:15 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, Feb. 8, was titled “Kemper Freeman quits Bellevue business group his father founded.” Its subject was the departure of a key figure from a business association over differences in opinion, including over an endorsement of light rail.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, developer (main subject)

2. Female, president of the business association

3. Male, chair of the board

4. Male, mayor

5. Male, former association president

Notes/analysis: See below notes.


Website: Seattle P-I

On the Seattle P-I, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 3:15 p.m. (MST) Tuesday, Feb. 8, was titled “Man accused in threats against Seattle Democrat Jim McDermott pleads not guilty.” Its subject was the plea of a California man who made threatening phone calls to a Congressman’s office.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, suspect charged

2. Male, special agent

3. Female, U.S. attorney

Notes/analysis: The headlines on both articles this week included mentions of at least two male subjects, one by name in each. These men were then the focal points of the articles. Prior studies, such as the 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project, have shown that less than 15 percent of news items focus on women or female subjects. 

Gender Check: 2/5/11 – South

Joy BaconLeave 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: The Miami Herald

On the Miami Herald, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 3 p.m. (EST) on Saturday, Feb. 5 was titled “Florida: Did bank rob us?” Its subject was a pending lawsuit against a New York-based bank for allegedly defrauding the state’s pension fund.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Female – state attorney general (as quoted from a released statement)

2. unknown- spokesperson

3. male – lawyer (declined comment but still mentioned by name and title)

4. unknown- spokesperson

5. male – former executive director

6. male – governor of California

7. male – businessman

8. male – lawyer

Notes/analysis: This story was taken from the St. Petersburg Times, for which the reporter is a full-time writer. A large portion of the article’s information or statements came from officially released statements or other public statements. Few of the parties involved went on record for separate interviews.


Website: Patch (Seminole Heights)

On Patch of Seminole Heights, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 3:15 p.m. (EST) on Saturday, Feb. 5 was titled “Point Guards Excel at Chamberlain and Tampa Catholic.” Its subject was a weekly feature on a male and female athlete from the area.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Female – coach of female athlete featured

2. Male – coach of male athlete featured

Notes/analysis: In a rare change of pace for a sports feature, the female athlete is highlighted first in this post. Of the three photos accompanying the story, one is of the female basketball player, but the male photo is the home image.