St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Gender check: 5/19/11 – 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 noon (PST) Thursday, May 19, was titled “Man shoots wife, kills teen girl and shoots self in St. Louis domestic dispute.” Its subject was a man shooting his wife, her teen daughter and then himself. The girl died of her wounds while her mother and the man are still in critical condition.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male and female, dual byline

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, police lt.

2. Female, neighbor

Notes/analysis: The incident is a breaking news situation that is still developing. The story notes that a young boy is also a member of the household but was at school at the time. It’s unclear whether the man was the girl’s father or step-father.


Website: St. Louis Beacon

On the St. Louis Beacon, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of noon (PST) Thursday, May 19, was titled “MSD rates are set to go up, one way or another.” Its subject was upcoming rate increases from the sewer district.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, executive director

Notes/analysis: The story mostly cites “officials” with the MSD or just the district as the source.

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: 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.

Gender check: 3/17/11 – 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 2 p.m. (MST) Thursday, March 17, was titled “Death penalty supporters advance bills in Illinois House.” Its subject was efforts to reinstate the death penalty in the state of Illinois.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Female

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, executive director of the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

2. Male, state representative


Website: St. Louis Beacon

On the St. Louis Beacon, one of the lead articles featured on the home page as of 2 p.m. (MST) Thursday, March 17, was titled “Missouri House debate on Prop B reveals deep rural-urban split.” Its subject was a debate on regulations around dog breeding currently in the Missouri House.

Here is its gender breakdown:

–Author: Male

–Human sources  (listed in order mentioned):

1. Male, state representative

2. Male, state representative

3. Male, state senator

4. Male, president of the Humane Society of the United States

5. Male, state representative

6. Male, state representative

7. Male, state senator

8. Female, state senator

9. Female, state representative

10. Male, state representative

11. Male, state representative

12. Male, political science professor

13. Male, governor

14. Male, state House speaker

Notes/analysis: A lot of male voices dominated this story, but, as discussed in earlier Gender Checks, they also make up the majority of legislators in Missouri’s state government. However, the House has more of a balance than the Senate. Women make up more than 40 percent of the state House, while constituting only 23 percent of the state Senate.