What to do about homelessness? Journalists collaborating as claims-makers in the San Francisco Homeless Project.

This content analysis considered the San Francisco Homeless Project (SFHP), a collaboration of media organizations working to generate a wave of coverage to alleviate homelessness. The effort stood out for its proposed solutions to a systemic and complex issue involving multiple ecological levels of a community, the number and variety of organizations involved, and the ongoing nature of the project. Yet, little is known about its impact and potential for replication. Researchers coded 977 articles published by 134 media organizations over an 18-month period split into three phases (Preliminary, Wave 1, and Wave 2). Article frequency, characteristics, and content (code groups) were stratified by SFHP participation and described overtime. Results revealed that in addition to creating a media blitz, SFHP participants generated significantly longer and more visual articles and were influenced by nonprofits and government agencies. However, the SFHP did not lead to a sustained change in terms of article frequency and content.