Spinning Heads and Spinning News: How a Lack of Statistical Proficiency Affects Media Coverage

• Activity Number: 153
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 3, 2009 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Rebecca Goldin*+
• Companies: Statistical Assessment Service/George Mason University
• Keywords: statistical education ; media ; newspapers ; journalism ; statistical literacy

Abstract

News increasingly depends on a careful dissection of numbers. Statistics are everywhere, from how many people lack health insurance to how to improve math education. Yet for being so prevalent, statistics are poorly understood by the general public. In this essay, I'll illustrate how the press can misuse and even abuse statistics using examples of news coverage. Since news sources are the main avenue by which the public understands many public health issues, these misguided representations of science can actually shape public policy, legislation, and individual choices. It is essential that media writers understand basic concepts from statistics, epidemiology and more generally the methods of scientific discovery. The press is most powerful when it goes beyond politics and morality to point out what science says, what it doesn't, and what it can't.