Roe v. Wade through Overtone's lens
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Roe v. Wade decision
By Christopher Brennan
Last week the United States Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, a ruling that granted a constitutional right to an abortion throughout the country for the last half century. The decision was not unexpected, coming weeks after POLITICO had leaked which way the justices were leaning. Since that report, there has been a flurry of coverage about what a post-Roe America looks like.
That coverage, reports on what led to the decision, and now after the ruling, reaction from many sectors of society, makes up a flood of information that can be difficult to parse through, understand, or use to formulate what you plan to do. In a bid to help people understand better what sort of articles they are reading, this week’s newsletter shows the differences between our scores on articles looking at abortion.
1 - Aggregated/Updates/Non-News
Overtone articles look at the journalistic signals within a piece, such as original reporting, analysis and human effort. Lower scoring articles lack these signals.
After the decision on Friday, the attention around it led to an explosion of articles, including packaging social media reaction as new stories. This piece from Mashable takes a tweet from an elected official in Tennessee, also a former WWE performer, and shares a slew of replies. Beyond lacking any original reporting, it is also missing much context around the Supreme Court decision itself or its consequences. The second article from Glamour has a different tone but takes a similar approach, sharing social media snippets from concerts and aggregating from other news outlets.
Pro wrestling stars are dunking on fellow wrestler, Kane, for his tweet on Roe v. Wade - Mashable
Olivia Rodrigo Sang ‘F-ck You’ to the Supreme Court Justices Who Overturned Roe v. Wade - Glamour
It is worth noting that the Overtone score is not strongly linked to length, which would mean longer pieces receiving higher scores. While the link to the decision contains a short amount of text, the Mashable piece above is approaching 700 words, longer than other pieces on this list.
2 - Basic Story
Articles that are in the next category provide more context to readers, aiming at providing information to their readers rather than just shuffling some content in front of them. We call these “basic” or “bare bones” stories. Oftentimes they cite only one original source for their information, such as the police. Others, such as these articles from the Associated Press and Venture Beat, cobble together different information from official sources such as industry associations or officials. They relay reliable information, but with little depth.
Abortions Stop At Kentucky Clinics After Supreme Court Rules - Associated Press
Game devs react to the overturning of Roe v. Wade - VentureBeat
3 - Daily Story
Daily stories are the bread and butter of most journalists, who react to events as they happen and then cover them by adding necessary context. They are often exploring one angle of a story, but not delving into all of them.
This piece from Agence France Presse, for example, focused on the role of online data, and went out to receive comment from relevant parties, in addition to gathering information that is floating around in statements. The Telegraph piece, likewise, covers the official announcement from the governor of Wisconsin, but also does on the ground reporting.
With Roe vs Wade overturned, fears grow online data could be weaponised against abortion seekers in US - Agence France-Presse
Doctors prosecuted for abortions to be granted clemency by Democrat governors - The Daily Telegraph
4 - Added Value
This next section is where reporters are adding value in helping to excavate information and explain it to their readers. These articles are often picking an angle and not just providing context as the previous category did, but delving more into the details.
This piece from Kaiser Health News, for example, looks at the legal questions around abortions on the lands of Native American tribes, which are sovereign nations. Arielle Zionts interviews multiple people on different angles of the story, coming to a more thorough, feature-like piece.
Tribes Show Little Interest in Offering Abortions on Reservations Despite Speculation They Could - Kaiser Health News
One question about Overtone scores that often comes up is how it deals with opinion pieces. One scale treats news and opinion the same, looking for the same journalistic signals in the latter as it does in the former. Pieces that lack these journalistic signals receive lower scores, no matter what side they are of an issue. This article from Fox News and this article from Newsy are both in the 1st category.
Likewise, pieces that do present some journalistic signals are scored more highly. This piece from conservative writer David French is in this section because it references data and looks into a study on attitudes to abortion. The editorial from the Salt Lake Tribune argues in the completely opposite direction, though beyond pure opinion it also provides information about the Utah legislature’s history and statements on various bills. Overtone’s algorithm does not take political stance or outlet into account for its score, but only looks at how a piece is written.
The Pro-Life Movement’s Work is Just Beginning - The Atlantic
Tribune editorial: ‘It’s on us,’ Utah women know, ‘to demand protection and the restoration of our rights’ - Salt Lake Tribune
5 - In-depth, Enterprise
When I worked as a reporter, my colleagues all knew the difference between a daily story and an “enterprise piece” where the author went out and gathered information on a subject they had chosen, rather than reacting to the events of the day and scrambling together added information before deadline.
These enterprise stories sometimes take weeks or even months for a reporter to gather and verify the required information to illustrate a subject for their readers. In the case of the Dobbs ruling, the leak from POLITICO meant that reporters had lead time to prepare for the eventual decision. Our algorithm’s highest depth score shows some of the work from journalists that digs further into the complexities of the situation. These pieces from the Texas Tribune, on travel between states, and the BBC, using a historical perspective at the Roe case to look at the role of religion in 2022, both show reporters who were given the time to delve into an issue.
New Mexico warily assumes its new role as a destination for abortion seekers and providers - Texas Tribune
Roe v Wade: Church that helped Jane Roe still aids abortion-seekers - BBC