Inequality drives our journalism
Inequality drives our journalism
Note from the Center
Inequality is an underlying issue in much of what we cover, whether it is the contribution tax avoidance makes to global inequality uncovered by the Panama Papers or the growing erosion of the middle class in the United States, as exposed by much of our money-in-politics-led reporting.
Net access as a human right
One coverage area that has enabled us to link policy to inequality is access to broadband in the United States. Rather than look at it through a purely speed or net neutrality lens, Allan Holmes has written about the social and economic implications of poor U.S broadband quality and access.
This week Allan launched a series – combined with an entirely new data set on the problem from Ben Wieder – showing how high-quality broadband availability mysteriously stops on the border of poorer suburbs across America. It’s a story built on reporting, a human narrative and importantly on data. The national perspective on the problem cannot be ignored if you look at the amazing national map of broadband access developed by Chris Zubak-Skees. I suspect that map, based on a new compilation of data described here by Ben, will become a definitive resource.
The video on the story by Eleanor Bell Fox is a strong exposition of the problem in a different medium.
Why do we care? Because, as one of the sources in the story says, access to broadband is now a necessity, not a luxury. “Internet access…is the civil rights issue of our time.” Huffington Post, our co-pubishing partner on the story recognized the importance of the piece with "front page" treatment.
More:
https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/05/18/19690/inequality-drives-our-journalism?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+publici_rss+%28The+Center+for+Public+Integrity+Latest+Stories%29
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