Teaching and training journalists in the use of numbers Finally, I would ask,
again for new media and old, that students learn basics about graphics
-- not how to produce a chart in Illustrator, but how to judge whether
numbers are reliable and would produce a useful chart; boiling info down
to a highlights box; gathering the data needed to produce a complicated
infographic. I'd talk about the different kinds of graphics and when each
is appropriate. I'd throw in an introduction to statistics, at least enough
for them to know what questions to ask about a poll or how to figure a
percentage. When it comes to young reporters, computer-assisted reporting skills are the issue, if you want to include them as new media. Experience in Access and Excel, with examples of stories produced with those skills, will quickly elevate any resume. But as in the example of a computer savvy copy editor who does not know how to edit copy, the ability to merge databases and crunch numbers is not enough. The critical thinking skills needed to set up even a simple database project, analyze the numbers, and then report well beyond the numbers are essential. I think research skills
and critical thinking skills are enormous needs that both journalism educators
and we newsroom training editors need to address more. (Does anyone in
academia offer basic courses in logic?) So much bad writing and so many
lame stories begin with weak ideas. I no longer do any hiring for a newsroom, but I certainly agree with everything Michael Roberts says. Unfortunately, when one looks at the standards used by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (the organization that puts its stamp of approval on departments of journalism) <http://www.ukans.edu/~acejmc/PROGRAM/STANDARDS.HTML>, it appears Mr. Roberts and I are surely a club of two (and as you will see, my subset of one has far more modest aspirations for new reporters than his). According to the ACEJMC, to be accredited, a journalism program's curriculum "...should provide up-to-date instruction in the skills and in the theories, history, functions, procedures, law, ethics and effects of journalism and mass communications...." AND "Competence in language use and visual literacy should be stressed throughout the curriculum...." And that's as specific as it gets in terms of curriculum standards or expectations. There is not one word anywhere in the ACEJMC document that would suggest journalists need any quantitative skills. Not surprising that, and I only know of two programs -- Arizona State and Hawaii -- that require their graduates to have a course in statistics, for example. It seems to me that if a GA reporter can't compute percent of change or percent of proportion, for example, he/she literally cannot competently cover ANY aspect of government. Consequently, I would argue that accreditation appears to severely limit the intellectual skills required for the practice of quality journalism. (Note, too, that according to the document referenced above, those standards haven't changed since 1997.) There was some talk
a couple years back about AP including some statistical calculation questions
on its exam. Did anything ever come of that? Tom -- I certainly
agree with you. And you'll be glad to know that when we revised our journalism
program two years ago, we made it mandatory that all journalism majors
take a 4-hour class in statistics. I suspect that as more and more schools
develop CAR courses, they will also be requiring statistics. bad stuff from the
Web -- fake polls, design at the expense of content, flash at the expense
of news, etc. The Web will teach them one good thing -- how to deliver
the news quickly. It won't teach them how to report or write or edit.
Pam, You've hit on one that really bugs me--the unquestioning acceptance of polls and academic, political and commercial surveys that mean absolutely nothing when a reporter examines them closely, which a good reporter should. But so should copy editors, as well as the line editors. From what I see at papers across the country, many copy editors seem to be afraid to address content, and stick to what the poorer copy editing courses are teaching them--nuts and bolts of grammar, etc. I wish journalism schools, and top editors at papers, would emphasize that it is the copy editor's responsibility, as well as the line editor's, to be concerned with the accuracy and credibility of content. Having been also in academia, I've become suspicious of all the number-crunching surveys profs put out to get tenure, which are then swallowed whole by reporters. Often the subjects of the quantitative "survey" are students in their own classrooms! Talking about checking
the numbers and percentages, I once saw a story reporting a survey of
120 students, of whom 11 percent were nonwhites. Of that 11 percent, 40
percent, so the academic reported, disagreed with the question asked.
The copy editor should have figured out that 11 percent was l3.2 persons,
of whom 5.28 persons disagreed. And the copy editor should then have suggested
that the story be dumped. Excellent point, John. Thank you all for
this conversation. I have shared this with Tom Goldstein and I will share
it with our faculty. We are adding some courses on use of math in stories.
John Allen Paulos, author of a Mathematician Reads a Newspaper, is coming
to Columbia for spring semester. If I could raise the money to do a continuing
ed course on this relatively cheaply, do you think editors, slots, reporters
would be interested. It is such an important topic. Arlene, Excellent
idea -- you'd have 110 percent attendance! And if you added a session
on understanding business numbers (basic financials, stock market info,
etc.) and how to question those numbers, you'd get even more folks. Titles in the Free Press training library that are helpful on this subject:
Click to Amazon and
buy some. An online addition to Joe's list, from Chapter 14 of my textbook, Reporting and Writing:
Christopher "Chip" Scanlan - The Poynter Institute I just forwarded Chip's message to our newsroom and received this response from Joe Kolman of our staff: "Just seconds before you sent this, I found this site http://www.algebra-online.com/quickmath.php3 which actually does simple algebra equations for you. It hasn't completely helped me, because not only do I need to know the answer, I need to know how they did it. Nevertheless, a lot of what we deal with property taxes and stuff is really algebra, of which I remember none from whenever it was I was required to take it." Joe calls the site
a "cheating machine," and in this case, I'm in favor of cheating. The
caution would be that you could cheat your way into the wrong answer if
you don't know the right numbers to plug in and the right places to plug
them. We have found math sessions to be extremely popular at ACES conferences. At our most recent conference, we had three sessions: Questions to Ask About Surveys and Studies, led by Robert Niles (nilesonline.com), Rich Holden's "Afraid of Math? Take a Number", which, other than the fact that he stole my title:), is always an outstanding session, and a math session by Jack Robinson of the LA Times, which covered the basics. People crave training. Math is just one part of it, though particularly useful because so many of us are deficient in it. Kathy Schenck also
led a session that got raves called Critical Thinking/Asking the Big Questions
to Protect Your Paper's Credibility, that got high marks. IRE has recently published a "beat book" by Sarah Cohen called "Numbers in the Newsroom." You can get an overview of it by going to www.ire.org/store/books/math You can order it off the Web or from IRE by calling, 573-882-3364. We think its about the most practical beginning book out there and use it in our training. Sarah, currently a database editor at the Washington Post, tried to make it as practical as possible after teaching computer-assisted reporting (and lots of math) for two years for IRE and NICAR in newsrooms around the country. Before Sarah started doing journalism, she worked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 10 years after getting a degree in economics at the University of North Carolina. She co-teaches IRE and NICAR's advanced workshop in statistics every May at North Carolina with Philip Meyer, Knight chair and author of New Precision Journalism. By the way, Paulos
will be one of our featured speakers at the annual computer-assisted reporting
conference in Philadelphia, Oct. 11-14, 2001. Just before reading Joe's post, I was about to say we need to think beyond numbers. Yes, journalists mangle them. Yes, they are important. But I'm more concerned about critical thinking skills that address ideas and language itself. Joe's suggestion is a good one, in that math analysis can be a bridge to other kinds of analysis. Anyone who has taken a symbolic logic course knows how statements are reduced to equations, which reveal the workings of language, the structure of ideas and the relative weakness/strength or true/false qualities of an idea or statement. My greatest learning experience in high school (not counting dates at the Blue Sky Drive-in Theatre) was as a member of the debate team. Analyzing statements, building proofs, attacking ideas, just framing the key question in a debate, all drove home the workings of ideas and words. I assume that at some point in law school the same sort of things are taught on a more sophisticated level. Same for critical thinking skills in the teaching of scientific method, especially when it comes to pure research. Journalists do need more training in computers and information-as-numbers. I also think they (we) need more training in the analysis of ideas and language. Many of us have read and quote from Orwell's famous essay, "Politics and the English Language," when it comes to his recommendations on style and usage. But there was also this challenge: "Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not simply due to the bad influence of this or that individual writer. But an effect can become a cause; reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on in definitely. "The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration... "This mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English prose, and especially of any kind of political writing. As soon as certain topics are raised, the concrete melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of turns of speech that are not hackneyed: prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house." Journalists can either
be among those who spread foggy thinking, or those who reveal it and counteract
it. We just need to "take the necessary trouble." Despite my own math phobia, I've written quite a bit about numbers in the news. Some of that follows: (Jack's material is posted in the Numeracy category.) Please feel free to
grab any or all of it for use in your own newsrooms, for classroom training
or whatever.
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