Mediating Statistics in the Media: Getting Your Numbers Rightly Reported

• Activity Number: 352
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 4, 2009 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Committee on Meetings
• Author(s): David Leonhardt*+ and Shankar Vedantam*+ and William Alpert*+
• Companies: The New York Times and The Washington Post and Barron's
• Keywords: Statistical literacy ; Statistical education ; Communicating statistics ; Misuse of statistics

Abstract

Statistics are used, and misused, every day in the media. This panel features three journalists who have been at the frontier of promoting the principled use of statistics in journalism. They'll also suggest ways you can get your own work noticed and reported correctly. William Alpert, Senior Editor at Barron's, will contend that "Every Good Bayes Deserves Favor-able Press," David Leonhardt, Economics Columnist at The New York Times, will discuss the all too frequent lack of context, in his "It's Another Record High!" and Shankar Vedantam, National Reporter and Columnist at The Washington Post, will delineate his "Anecdotes and Data: Innumeracy in the Mass Media." Each will talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly in the media's use of statistics, and their ideas about raising statistical literacy in the general media. Please bring your ideas, too!