jcrosok
commented
6 years ago To clarify, your concern is that this tool could be used to set arbitrary targets for coverage of marginalized groups and therefore could result in not publishing the most interesting or newsworthy pieces? Definitely interesting feedback. I will clarify what exactly the output of such a tool might be, how I intend it to be used and potential pitfalls newsrooms might fall into when attempting to leverage this data.
This is a really interesting topic that is both pervasive and complicated. Andrew and Jake made some great points, so instead of echoing similar comments I'll take a different angle. In a world where group/identity representation is perfectly measured, and this information is made available, the news may not be delivered as well as intended.
Measurement metrics tend to become lazy targets if not well-managed. While this idea is intended to affect proportionate representation of all groups, it may have the counter-intuitive effect of suppressing news on the basis of story subject group identity. This might manifest as a scenario where a producer deciding to run or not run stories based on whether or not they help or hurt the representation metrics, and not based on the newsworthiness of the story itself.
The concept is interesting and I hope this angle helps address some of the ways it could be inadvertently misused. I look forward to reading as this develops!