Analyzing Local Media Coverage of Gun Violence in Chicago over the Weekend

On Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that 42 people were injured and 6 people were killed by gun violence over the weekend. As it does every weekend, the Sun-Times published a tally of people injured or killed in shootings and updated the article over the course of the weekend. The headline of the article posted to the Sun-Times website was “Gun violence in Chicago sharply up from last year as 48 people are shot over the weekend, at least 6 of them fatally.” As per usual, Fox Chicago and CBS Local also kept track of incidents of gun violence and published an article with the final tally and details of several incidents online. The outlets defined the weekend as beginning on Friday at 5pm and ending on Monday at 5am.

Unlike in past weekends, ABC Local and NBC Local also published articles on Monday that tallied the number of people injured or killed by gun violence over the weekend. Both of these articles came from the Sun-Times media wire. The majority of the articles published by Fox Chicago that cover gun violence are from the Sun-Times media wire.

On Saturday morning, the Chicago Tribune published an article with the headline “2 people fatally shot and 3 injured at party in Gresham among 5 dead and at least 15 wounded in city shootings since Friday afternoon, police say.” In recent weeks, it has become a pattern that the Tribune publishes an article summarizing gun violence from one night during the weekend. This is more in-depth coverage than the outlet previously dedicated to local gun violence in Chicago.

The Chicago Sun-Times and Fox Chicago tied for the most in-depth coverage of local gun violence in Chicago this weekend, as both outlets published 16 articles. In contrast, NBC Local and the Chicago Tribune had the least in-depth coverage, with each outlet publishing 5 articles on the subject.

Delia Corridon is a student at Northwestern University studying journalism and data science. Corridon is interested in data journalism and reporting in politics, business, and civic issues.

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