Gender check: 2/10/11 – 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 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

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 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. 

Week in Review: Jan. 31 – Feb. 4

Joy BaconLeave a comment

*Week in Review is a weekly post that highlights some of the major stories related to gender issues this week. Some of these stories may have already appeared in our News Feed or in the week’s Gender Checks. We’ll at times include a longer analysis of stories as well as bring attention to stories that may have slipped through the cracks of the week’s news cycle.

Healthcare legislation

This week the GOP moved forward with its plan to dismantle Obama’s healthcare plan by focusing on portions of the legislation dealing with federal funds for abortions. On Monday H.R.3, named  the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” introduced language that would redefine the terms under which a woman could receive federal funds for an abortion after rape or incest. The proposed change aimed to limit funding to pregnancies resulting from “forcible” rape. After criticism from several groups, a spokesman for Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), one of the bill’s authors, said the word “forcible” would be dropped. He told the Washington Post Thursday that lawmakers decided to change the term because it was being “misconstrued.” The bill will now revert back to the language already in place through the Hyde Amendment.

The Hyde Amendment*, originally passed in 1976, governs the current uses and restrictions of federal funds used for abortions. Federal funds cannot be used except in cases of rape, incest, or when a mother’s life is in danger. It also bans abortion funding for women on Medicaid, women in the military or Peace Corps, and those who receive medical care from Indian Health Services. The bill proposed by Smith and other sponsors will make the restrictions set in place by the Hyde Amendment a permanent appropriations law. Currently it has to be recodfied in appropriations each year.

Planned Parenthood also took the spotlight later in this week’s news cycle after undercover videos showed employees giving medical advice to men posing as pimps of child prostitutes. One worker was fired as a result of the tapes. Some members of Congress are using the videos as momentum to remove all federal funding from the organization under H.R.614.  Live Action, the group responsible for the videos, claims staff turned a blind eye to sexual trafficking and exploitation of minors.

Thursday, 27 groups sent a letter to Congress in support of Planned Parenthood, including the NAACP and Sierra Club. “Right-wing groups are once again attempting to destroy an organization dedicated to providing crucial primary care services to Americans that need them most. Armed with heavily edited videos, countless lies, and a shameless echo chamber that repeats unfounded accusations ad nauseam, they’ve now turned their sights to Planned Parenthood, which offers a range of important health and reproductive services,” the letter reads (as taken from POLITICO excerpt).

According to its website, over 3 million men and women received health-related services from Planned Parenthood’s 820 health centers last year, including 1 million Pap tests and 4 million tests and treatment for STDs. Three percent of all Planned Parenthood health services are abortion services. Currently the organization does not receive federal money for any of its abortion services.

In Other News

A study released this week showed that after 10 years, Wikipedia’s contributor base consisted of less than 15 percent female authors.  The disparity also shows up in the emphasis of posts by male vs. female authors. Sue Gardner, the executive director of the foundation, has set a goal to raise the share of female contributors to 25 percent by 2015 (as reported in the New York Times).

*The link to the full text of the Hyde Amendment was taken from the National Right to Life website. The site provided the most easily accessible link to the original legislation, but is not in any way an endorsement of this group or its stance on this issue. Whenever possible the Gender Report tries to link to original sources and primary documents or otherwise fully cites any reprinted quotes or information.

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.