KUOW: Source & Content Diversity Audit

In 2021, KUOW first commissioned Impact Architects to conduct a retroactive source and content diversity audit in an effort to set a baseline of voices, perspectives, and topics covered in its reporting and content. This work was part of the newsroom’s efforts to better reflect the communities they serve in the voices they include in their coverage. The newsroom has continued to pursue this goal, and in fall 2024, KUOW again partnered with IA to review the newsroom’s existing source tracking practices, provide recommendations for streamlining the process, and develop a methodology for tracking sources for additional content areas that are not currently tracked, specifically newscasts.

The 2024 report outlines IA’s findings and recommendations based on our review of data and conversations with staff, in addition to our new analysis of sources in KUOW’s newscast content. IA’s 2021 retroactive source audit of content from six programming areas (digital presentation of News/Enterprise stories from the KUOW newsroom, Seattle Now, The Record, Speakers Forum, and the podcasts Radioactive and The Wild) published in 2020 helped inform editorial strategy for future tracking and set a baseline for perspectives included in the newsroom’s content. This new analysis surfaced questions about the process as well as opportunities for expanding source tracking and increasing compliance in the data collection process,

  • 2024 Report: KUOW Source Diversity Tracking Review

    We partnered with KUOW public radio in Seattle, WA again in 2024 to review the newsroom’s existing source tracking practices and develop a methodology for tracking sources for additional content areas that are not currently tracked, specifically newscasts.

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  • 2021 Report: KUOW Source & Content Diversity Audit

    We conducted a source and content audit for KUOW public radio in Seattle, WA. This work created custom categories for source diversity, including community of belonging, to deeply understand KUOW’s coverage and inclusion of community members across greater Seattle.

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  • Blog: Three Years Later, How KUOW is tracking source diversity

    In 2024, we again partnered with KUOW to explore the station’s existing best practices and processes for source tracking in order to make recommendations for streamlining the process and adding additional tracked content categories.

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  • Blog: Creating a “community of belonging” for a diversity audit

    While a “community of belonging” research category resulted in interesting findings, just as important is the fact that it surfaced new ways for the KUOW team to think about reporting, going forward.

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