This study builds a multi-dimensional framework for assessing local media systems to identify potential gaps in news provision, especially among socioeconomically marginalized communities. The Philadelphia Inquirer & Daily News e-Editions, including archives. The newspaper asked her to resign eight months later over her conduct in her previous job, at The Philadelphia Inquirer. However, when assessed at the outlet level, we find pronounced inequity in the provision of such coverage along socioeconomic markers. When I learned over the weekend about what the Inquirer was doing, I couldnt help but think about the deeply flawed media coverage that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. headquarters in New York before being transferred to Atlanta. Certainly, I do not believe I ever wrote anything for The Inquirer which violated my own professional integrity.. Under such ownership, news properties may be treated like any other asset in large financial portfolios: As targets for extracting maximum profits rather than as civic institutions. It typically takes a new host a couple of dozen shows, at least, to settle in, but Psaki seems to be more than comfortable after only six. Our selection excludes New Jersey news outlets east of Philadelphia. These data, which are not available for all of our outlets, derive from the U.S. Census, industry and news sources, and information provided by outlets themselves either through direct correspondence or through their web sites and materials for advertisers and sponsors, often known as media kits. Availability limitations require us to draw on data from different years, but most data fall into a narrow time frame (generally 2017 to 2021, though some circulation data is as old as 2009), and therefore they do not preclude comparative analysis. Moreover, those that rely on paywalls bar access for those who are unable or unwilling to pay (Knobel, 2018; Pickard, 2020). February 1, 2021 The Philadelphia Inquirer announced today that it will remove reader comments from most stories posted on Inquirer.com. Some progress was made in leadership hires and several desks surpassed the goal of at least 25% BIPOC journalists, though others did not. This subset excludes the Camden Courier-Post newspaper and other outlets in New Jersey that serve an area that partially overlaps with Philadelphia. Andrea Wenzel, Poynter. Theres a simple but powerful idea behind the Philadelphia Inquirers recent decision not to use the word audit when referring to an effort by the state GOP to investigate the 2020 election: The words that a news organization chooses to tell a story make a difference. As explained by Stryker et al. It gave The Inquirer a black eye. Education indices above 100 indicate a higher than average number of people with bachelors degrees or higher (31% citywide average; adding or subtracting 1 for each percentage point over or under the average). Encouraging diverse forms of ownershipespecially public and nonprofit media institutionshas the potential to shield news organizations from the economic incentives to bait their audiences with sensationalistic coverage of crime and other topics. Congress may be about to help local news. But a lot can be learned from the substantial volume of work they have already done, as well as the challenges they have encountered. Sections and supplements are laid out just as in the print edition, Laura Foreman in 1976 at the Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Mo., as a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Get the Poynter newsletter that's right for you. Overcoming Joel Embiids absence, Sixers take Game 1, 119-115, behind James Hardens 45 points, Ed Snider Youth Hockey & Education, the Flyers, and Flyers Charities open new street hockey rink in Kensington, Police Commissioner Outlaw is back to full duty after she was injured in a car crash, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers reflects on his time in Boston, embraces new role as 'arch enemy'. There was no obituary. . JESSICA GRIFFIN / Philadelphia Inquirer HARRISBURG Two Philadelphia addiction treatment providers face criminal charges for allegedly bribing recovery homes for referrals and forcing patients into substandard care, prompting renewed calls from state lawmakers to strengthen oversight. Our searches show that as of August 18, when we began this portion of the data collection, the oldest content included in Factiva for these outlets was published on May 11. Commissioned an Who am I centering in this story?) for reporters, editors, and producers to consider at different points in the journalistic process. The United States stands out globally for how little it invests in its public media, amounting to merely $1.40 of federal spending per person, which is a fraction of what most other developed democracies around the world spend on public media (Neff & Pickard, 2021). Gaps in news coverage, from less than adequate provision of vital information to the virtual absence of such information in news deserts, also raise normative concerns for the pluralistic representation and participation of different publics in democracy (Ferree et al., 2002). For example, a short item (292 words) published August 18, 2021, reports on a shooting death and notes in the final paragraph that Philadelphia and other cities have seen spikes in homicides and shootings (McCarthy, 2021). Yet reportage that meets critical information needs may not always be favored by journalists and news organizations. The big reason? RQ3: How do the socioeconomic statuses and age demographics of different communities correlate with news coverage meeting the critical information needs of these communities? We use this time period because several major Philadelphia outlets are archived in Factiva on a rolling, approximately 90-day window. Set diversity goals for 2021 regarding promotions, hiring, and representation in leadership. Subscribe today to gain access to every Research Intelligencer article we publish as well as the exclusive daily newsletter, full access to The MediaPost Cases, first-look research and daily insights from Joe Mandese, Editor in Chief. However, research on news values indicates that journalists may not deem pandemics and crimes as equally newsworthy (Galtung & Ruge, 1965; Harcup & ONeill, 2001, 2017). (2006) to develop and validate search term strings that demonstrate high levels of precision in surfacing this coverage. (, Christians C. G., Glasser T. L., McQuail D., Nordenstreng K., White R. A. Her work included Cleopatras Palace: In Search of a Legend (1999), a detailed portrait of Egypts famous queen; and Napoleons Lost Fleet (1999, with Ellen Blue Phillips), an account of the 1798 Battle of the Nile. Regarding RQ3 concerning how critical information needs are met by Philadelphia news outlets, our study shows that in the aggregate, COVID coverage eclipses crime coverage. This was an unprecedented assault on the fabric of American democracy, the statement said. News Voices; Media 2070; Save The Internet; Voices for Internet Freedom . For example, Chadwicks concept of the hybrid media system emphasizes the flow of news across platforms, such as print, broadcast, and the Internet, and different media production logics. We received five responses (13% response rate), four of which provided information that either validated our existing data, corrected that information, or added new information to our analysis. For most outlets, these subsamples indicate that our search strings achieve the high levels of precision indicated by search string testing, meaning that relevant items comprise roughly 86% of COVID items and 91% of crime items.3 Since the pandemic has had very wide-ranging impacts on a communitys lifesuch as social distancing at church events, concert cancellations, vaccination clinics, and travel disruptionsour search string terms for COVID items produce similarly wide-ranging results with a high degree of relevance. Media ownership and public service news: How strong are institutional logics? Its been more than a year since The Philadelphia Inquirer launched its Inquirer for All project with the ambitious aim of transforming a newsroom that published the infamous Buildings Matter, Too headline into an inclusive and antiracist newsroom. include emergencies and public safety among their critical information needs, the authors note the negative impacts of reportage on crime, which can generate fear of crime and minorities in local communities, and they emphasize a communitys interest in fair and accurate representation (p. 11). Laura Virginia Foreman was born on June 11, 1943, in Anniston, Ala., about 60 miles east of Birmingham. (, Stryker J. E., Wray R. J., Hornik R. C., Yanovitzky I. There's a simple but powerful idea behind the Philadelphia Inquirer's recent decision not to use the word "audit" when referring to an effort by the state GOP to investigate the 2020 . Set diversity goals for 2021 regarding promotions, hiring, and . Outlets for which search strings appear to have achieved lower precision rates include Jewish Exponent (nearly half of COVID items of borderline relevance); Philadelphia Tribune, WPVI/ABC6, and WHYY (subsamples include crime items focusing on accidents or community-level aspects of crime). Created an internal forum for journalists to seek guidance on potentially sensitive content and to make anti-racism central to their journalism. Despite what might appear to be a robust and thriving media system, Philadelphias patterns of news provision indicate informational inequalities along socioeconomic lines. Established Newsrooms need accessible standards about their use of AI to maintain trust with news consumers and ensure accountability of the press. False claims about election fraud remain a problem, spreading in various places online, voting and media experts said. She was 76. In Table2, we aggregate circulation, web traffic, and staffing figures by high-/low-income indices, as well as by digital-only sites. Lack of available data prevents us from calculating income, education, and age indices for all of our outlets. Instead of hiring the most qualified people for the job they will lower those standards for having a better mix of skin color in the newsroom. If a journalist calls something a lie, thats a deliberate choice. An open string attempts to gather all relevant items by opening the search as widely as possible, which also will gather many irrelevant items (high recall, low precision). "Commenting on Inquirer.com was. Examined the Inquirer's crime and criminal justice coverage with Free Press, a nonprofit focused on racial justice in media. Should it be politicians like those in Arizona and Pennsylvania whose forensic investigations are motivated not by any democratic impulse but by a purely partisan agenda? But adoption was far from universal, and the committee that designed the guide had plans to work with different teams to seek broader implementation. Findings indicate that Philadelphias news media system underserves communities with lower levels of income and education and that this structural gap generates a measurable gap in the provision of news content meeting the critical information needs of these communities. Friedland et al. He worked at small papers in Alabama, including The Baldwin Times in Bay Minette, and The Atmore Advance, where he was editor and publisher, as well as at The Columbus Commercial Dispatch in Mississippi, where he was editor. Apologies were issued, a change in newsroom leadership was announced, earnest In terms of unambiguity, the level of information required to clearly understand COVID-19 may be higher, especially as official advice for staying well and reducing viral transmission develops and changes. As economic stability and outlook worsen for local news outlets for the foreseeable future, nonmarket means of support will likely become even more crucial in the years ahead. In addition, some expressed a sense of tension between aims of cultivating new readers from BIPOC and other historically marginalized communities, and of appealing to an existing audience of white suburban subscribers. Based on 2018 median HHI for Black/African-American majority Census tracts in Philadelphia (Shields & Siddique, 2020). As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Interpretations of correlation strength vary; our interpretations are based on Akoglu (2018). She found the house of her dreams in the French Quarter and knew she could support herself by freelancing, which she did, Ms. Phillips, a friend from Time-Life, said by phone. The conversations focused on crime and justice coverage with the hopes of informing the Inquirers newsroom guidelines and building relationships with impacted communities. Search string testing involved a full years worth of Philadelphia Inquirer crime stories (4,060 stories gathered by our open search string) and a random sample of Inquirer COVID-19 stories (710 stories; random sample used in accordance with Stryker et al.s method due to the large numbermore than 10,000of potentially relevant items found by our open search string). The media spent two hours deciding whom to blame. Its too soon to know if their journey will lead to transformation and structural change, or if the change will be more incremental. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of International Communication Association. However, even if such a counterweight exists, it raises questions about divides related to the different ways that television, print, and digital media cover the news, and future research should assess the degree to which local TV stations provide in-depth public affairs coverage and analysis compared to an outlet such as the Inquirer with an editorial staff of more than 200 people. Here's What It's Done in a Year, Net Neutrality: What You Need to Know Now, Where Does My Representative Stand on Net Neutrality, Where Does My Senator Stand on Net Neutrality, A Philadelphia Inquirer Headline Sparked Outrage and a Newsroom Audit. This byline is for a different person with the same name. The latter may include subscriptions, corporate underwriting, or donor and foundation support, which may encourage news production that does not prioritize a communitys information needs (Benson, 2018; Browne, 2010). Unlimited Digital Access + Sunday Print Delivery. Ms. Foreman, The Times learned recently, died on June 4, 2020, at her home in Memphis. February 2, 2021 The Philadelphia Inquirer announced Tuesday that its Schuylkill Printing Plant has been sold to developer J. Brian O'Neill for $37 million, according to reporting by the. Welcome to The Philadelphia Inquirer Digital Edition! To facilitate a feasible study capable of producing a fine-grained, multi-dimensional analysis of Philadelphias media system that includes analysis of news content, we do not include radio stations or low-power TV and smaller affiliate stations. many big-city dailies, theInquirerhas overemphasized crime and been racially insensitive in its coverage, Hughes said. Media Kit; Contact The Afghan debacle lasted two decades. Declining advertising revenues associated with digitization have forced many newsrooms to cut staff or close entirely. Such economic pressures on advertiser- and subscriber-funded news in the United States have contributed to the spread of news deserts: Pronounced gaps in news provision in which local journalism is almost entirely absent (Abernathy, 2016, 2020; Ardia et al., 2020; Ferrier et al., 2016; Pickard, 2020; Stonbely et al., 2019).1 Even when a community is served by local news organizations, much of their journalistic output is often not actually local or directly relevant to that community (Napoli et al., 2017). At the Inquirer, they are trying to do this by first recognizing that their practices around sourcing and editing have historically overrepresented white men, particularly those with power, and that their editing choices (framing, style, etc.) (2012) refer to as critical information needs. From information about public emergencies to coverage of local politics, journalism that fulfills these needs is essential to community cohesion, self-determination and, more broadly, to a functioning democracy. Their news values constitute a large corpus of research, which often notes that news outlets often favor stories that shock, surprise, or entertain, rather than meet critical needs for information (Galtung & Ruge, 1965; Harcup & ONeill, 2001, 2017). The Inquirer reported progress on meeting goals they set for hiring: Since the start of the year, 61% of all new newsroom positions were filled by individuals from BIPOC communities and 44% identified as women. Median or average weighted median HHI used for most outlets, with exceptions of average HHI for Chestnut Hill Local; Jewish Exponent; Philadelphia Business Journal; Philadelphia Daily News; Philadelphia Inquirer; Philadelphia Magazine. Robert L. Mooney/The Philadelphia Inquirer. Daily News print circulation also trails Inquirer circulation (11,813 average daily copies vs. 80,940 average daily copies, respectively). Findings indicate that multiple dimensions of Philadelphias news media systemaudience size and socioeconomics, staffing levels, forms of ownership, and platform effectswork together to underserve communities with lower levels of income and education and that this structural gap generates a measurable gap in the provision of news content meeting the critical information needs of these communities. (, Napoli P. M., Stonbely S., McCollough K., Renninger B. The analysis was prompted by a headline published last June 2: Buildings He divorced his estranged wife in 1979 and on July 14, 1980, Mr. Cianfrani, 57, and Ms. Foreman, 37, were married in Falls Church, Va., where she lived. The Philadelphia Inquirer is a public-benefit corporation that publishes a news website (Inquirer.com) and two daily newspapers (The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News) that serve the Philadelphia metropolitan area of the United States. Albk E., van Dalen A., Jebril N., de Vreese C. H. (, Althaus S. L., Cizmar A. M., Gimpel J. G. (, Ardia D, Ringel E, Ekstrand V. S., Fox A. This is a cause for concern and further research regardless of any assessment of how different news topics represent critical information needs. Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media . These gaps seem particularly pronounced when commercial outlets attempt to draw audiences with crime coverage that focuses on individual incidents rather than on the broader social and economic factors that fuel crime. Local television networks are positioned to provide a counterweight to this overall pattern, as prior research has found that television draws audiences with lower income and education levels (Althaus & Tewksbury, 2007; Althaus et al., 2009; Bucy, 2001). These include steps that are being tried by newsrooms around the U.S.: establishing a system to track the diversity of sources, launching a prepublication Content Consult Slack channel (which drew inspiration from a similar effort at The Seattle Times), and auditing their stylebook to encourage antiracism. However, a multi-dimensional analysis of the media system taking account of the relative weight of different outlets (staffing levels and audience size) and different formats (digital-only vs. outlets combining print, broadcast, and digital formats) raises further concerns about the degree to which Philadelphia audiences are equitably served. For instance, in terms of what Galtung and Ruge call frequency, individual crimes occur often, though they typically are of a short term nature, while the pandemic continues to unfold over a long time period, though with frequent events relevant to most, if not all of Friedland et al.s critical information needs. Mr. Roberts later became the editor of The Inquirer, where he hired Ms. Foreman as a features reporter in 1973. In order to research patterns and gaps in news provision, scholars have used the concept of a media system, which refers to patterned relationships between multiple media outlets and their broader social, economic, and political contexts (Albk et al., 2014; Aalberg & Curran, 2012; Chadwick, 2017; Hallin & Mancini, 2004). Major television affiliates for ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox also wield significant journalistic resources, but data on the composition of their audiences are unavailable. However, Andersons (2013) research shows that even as this digital news sector emerged, longstanding journalistic practices and the large footprint of legacy news institutions such as the Philadelphia Inquirer meant that stasis was more often evident than radical change (p. 159). Six months ago, our team from Temple Universitys Klein College of Media and Communication released a diversity and inclusion audit of the Inquirer which shared a series of recommendations around sourcing, editing, community engagement and workplace culture. Matter, Too.. The Philadelphia Inquirer was published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and with 3,831,414 searchable pages from 1789-2023. Weve released a progress report on the Inquirers efforts to date, drawing on conversations Ive had with more than 40 staff members. We think it is critical to speak plain truths about efforts to make it harder to vote and about efforts to sow doubts about the electoral process, Dan Hirschhorn, senior politics editor at the Inquirer, told me. Looks like they have gone full "WOKE" and tossed aside what true journalism and reporting the news means. Aggregated Audience Size, Staffing, and Format by High/Low Indices. Philadelphia Business Journals income index is a clear outlier (332); when this outlet is excluded, Philadelphias media system has an average income index of 113. Examples of COVID-19 coverage in our analysis include stories with headlines such as COVID cases increasing, vaccine lowers severity (Chestnut Hill Local); Chester County distributing $5.9M in state pandemic relief to local hospitality businesses (Philadelphia Business Journal); Philly area restaurants requiring vaccination: a running list (Billy Penn). (Fraudit may be a more accurate term.). As one manager at the Inquirer reflected, trying to transform a legacy news organization into an antiracist news organization was inherently challenging and uncomfortable work, and news leaders considering this road should buckle in.. Local TV news, where we would expect to find lower income and education indices (though we lack the data to produce these indices), does not appear to help close these gaps, as most COVID-to-crime news ratios at local TV affiliates are low, occasionally even negative.
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