However, these outlets generally do not have the same journalistic resources in terms of staffing levels as Philadelphias dominant news sources. 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. Assessing differences in formats, we find that digital-only outlets, several of which are newer entrants in the citys media system (e.g., Billy Penn, Passyunk Post, and West Philly Local), do not appear to be significantly altering the systems socioeconomic dynamics (RQ2). However, correlations align with prior research finding associations between socioeconomics and local news provision (e.g., Napoli et al., 2015; Stonbely et al., 2019). 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. Forgot? Therefore, we sought to achieve at least 90% precision and 80% recall for our search strings (with a 5% margin of error). Hirschhorn said there wasnt a lot of internal discussion at the Inquirer about the decision, in part because it all flowed from the work of the papers excellent voting-rights beat reporter, Jonathan Lai, which provided the factual basis for the statements. Thats what the Inquirer has decided to do in this case. Sections and supplements are laid out just as in the print edition, Lawmakers renew call for stronger addiction treatment oversight as two The system on average leans toward serving audiences with higher income and education and disproportionately older than 34. Subscribe to your choice of industry specific newsletters, save $100 on conferences, search member directories, comment on stories and more. Managers also shared that they were building community-engagement goals into the performance reviews of editors of several teams to encourage each to brainstorm and implement engagement ideas for their desks. The Inquirer noted that when it asked how the review would work, how ballots and election equipment would be secured, who would be involved, and so on, the leaders of this effort did not explain. Urban media systems such as Philadelphia, home to one of the largest designated media markets in the United States, also have been affected by declining news resources, which can exacerbate inequalities in news provision (Rafsky, 2020). A 2020 diversity audit found that the Philadelphia Inquirer, the dominant print and online news outlet in the citys media system, underrepresents people of color in its content and that its staff is overwhelmingly white (74.3% of newsroom staff; Monroe & Wenzel, 2021, p. 22). According to a note to employees from Publisher Lisa Hughes, 26 . But a lot can be learned from the substantial volume of work they have already done, as well as the challenges they have encountered. 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. Weve released a progress report on the Inquirers efforts to date, drawing on conversations Ive had with more than 40 staff members. A healthy local news environment is one that meets the diverse critical information needs of different communities within a certain geographic area. Despite what might appear to be a robust and thriving media system, Philadelphias patterns of news provision indicate informational inequalities along socioeconomic lines. One of Mr. Rizzos close allies was Mr. Cianfrani, a longtime ward boss who became chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and one of Pennsylvanias most influential lawmakers. It was among the first instances of a newspaper turning its investigative artillery on itself. 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. However, research on news values indicates that journalists may not deem pandemics and crimes as equally newsworthy (Galtung & Ruge, 1965; Harcup & ONeill, 2001, 2017). I dont believe I have done anything wrong, Ms. Foreman told The Inquirer in a statement. Ms. Foreman left for New Orleans in the 1990s. Excluding their ratios, Philadelphias media system has a weighted average ratio of 4.8 (3.9 excluding Jewish Exponent and Philadelphia Magazine, as well). Profit pressures at stock market-traded and private forms of ownership may encourage certain kinds of substantial news coverage to attract and retain subscribers, but they also incentivize the production of sensationalistic news. Broadcast jobs want you to sound like Walter Cronkite, but in a Black female body, says one news anchor. Based on 2018 median HHI for Hispanic majority Census tracts in Philadelphia (Shields & Siddique, 2020). . The next year he named her the papers political writer, the first woman to hold that title in The Inquirers 145-year history. Some staff shared experiences of how the guide was being used in the editing process and how it affected the basic workings of their desk. Pat McLoone Leaving The Philadelphia Inquirer (Updated) We also thank our reviewers for their insightful comments and criticisms, which were invaluable in revisions to this article. You can view The Poynter Institutes most-recent public financial disclosure form 990, Poynter ACES Introductory Certificate in Editing, diversity and inclusion audit of the Inquirer, Jen Psaki continues her strong TV start with comments about Tucker Carlson and Fox News. Forget the truth, they'll now be writing about "their progressive version" of the truth. After its infamous Buildings Matter, Too headline, the paper launched its Inquirer for All project to rebuild to be inclusive and antiracist. I may have done something injudicious. If you're already a paid subscriber, please sign-in. While managers affirmed that taking the time needed to follow antiracist practices was a priority, resource pressures were ever-present. No one expected the Inquirer to undo the influence of generations of structural racism in a few months. She is survived by Mr. Cianfranis daughters and grandchildren. But the Misinformation War Continues. The Inquirer often covers crime against the backdrop of concerns over high homicide rates in Philadelphia. 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. However, the Inquirer had yet to take actions regarding the recommendation to either host or participate in accountability conversations with community stakeholders to get input on their coverage more broadly. Excluding outliers Jewish Exponent and Philadelphia Magazine (ratios more than one standard deviation above the overall average), the average ratio is 5.5,4 meaning that on average outlets produce 5.5 times as many COVID-19 stories as they do crime stories. 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.) Can foundations solve the journalism crisis? News outlets subject to these profit logics often face staff cuts to cost-save and, once they become unprofitable, are either shuttered or sold, often resulting in news deserts. Congress may be about to help local news. The system on average also produces news for older audiences, with an age index of 109. As ad-industry executives gathered for the event, activist groups flew a banner that read Musk Is Bad For Business: #StopToxicTwitter., for your rights to connect and communicate, The Philadelphia Inquirer Is Working to Transform Its Newsroom. To answer our research questions about critical information news provision for socioeconomically and demographically differentiated communities (RQ3 and RQ4), we conduct a content analysis to assess each outlets volume of COVID-19 pandemic coverage and compare this to the volume of coverage of individual crimes. 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. RQ2: To what extent are socioeconomically and demographically differentiated audiences served by digital-only news outlets in Philadelphias media system? The Times confirmed her death through public records and with friends. Our study focuses on the structural drivers of systemic news gaps, rather than news flows. She was a big talent very perceptive, wise about all sorts of things, an excellent writer and an extremely nice and interesting person.. I knew she would get a manuscript to me on time and it would require very little work.. Philadelphia's news media system: which audiences are underserved 30,402 talking about this. Robert L. Mooney/The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Inquirer for Alls work also put it face-to-face with another 800-pound gorilla, namely journalism norms and traditions that have historically bolstered whiteness, including the dominant interpretation of objectivity as the view from nowhere. There was resistance from those who saw antiracism as activism that was antithetical to the rules of journalism. The Voice committee decided that if the Inquirer was to be an antiracist newsroom, it needed to outline what values guided their work as an antiracist newsroom, including acknowledging the role journalists play in their communities, and recognizing how journalists are informed by their own life experiences. He was careful to say that the language is narrowly tailored for these recent developments: Were not making general statements about the Pennsylvania Republican Party.. Should it be advocates, like activists who oppose abortion and insist that they should be called pro-life even if they favor the death penalty? under pressure to appear patriotic in the aftermath of the attacks. This includes the Delaware County Times, Metro (Philadelphia), and digital-only Philadelphia Patch, but not Philadelphia Tribune, which largely serves Philadelphias Black community. The conversations focused on crime and justice coverage with the hopes of informing the Inquirers newsroom guidelines and building relationships with impacted communities. Next, we conducted intercoder reliability tests to ensure that we agreed on rules for inclusion and exclusion. Behind the Scenes in a Newsroom on 9/11: How The Philadelphia Inquirer Media system gaps in coverage often correlate with socioeconomic indicators of audiences, with lower levels of income and education associated with less news and less coverage fulfilling communities critical information needs (Napoli et al., 2015). For crime stories, our search strings are designed to exclude references to police killings that have sparked Black Lives Matter protests, as these raise community-wide concerns for pervasive, systemic racial bias, and to exclude references to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, which occurred beyond the Philadelphia area. These include, among other things, creating a community desk, developing community engagement goals for performance reviews, creating a community advisory council, and holding accountability conversations with external community stakeholders. Our analysis of news content, reported in Table3, shows that nearly all outlets give more attention to the COVID-19 pandemic than to breaking news of individual crimes (RQ3).