2005.08.30
The Suck of Statistics in News
Everyone should know by now that I hate marketers. Part of marketing is finding out how to sell whatever point you want to make. More and more those points are made using statistics, whether real or completely made up. “Nine out of ten anal transplant patients agree… Tiger lip balm is great stuff!” My ass. Actually, I take that back.
So it is not surprise that more and more of the main stream media (MSM), especially news outlets, are using statistics to spice up their own presentations to make them more appealing to the market. It’s sad to use the words “news outlets” because they are really turning into outlets, as in retail outlets or outlet malls; supposedly high quality merchandise on the cheap.
Normally I just gloss over this sort of thing. Yet sometimes something jumps out at me and pisses me off again. Today it was reading this article. OK, fine, almost half of Ohioans thing Governor Taft should resign. Less of half of me thinks I should run around naked in the streets, too. Should I do it? Umm, don’t answer that. It’s rhetorical.
Almost half. That’s not news. “Little Bunny Foofoo today drank almost half a glass of milk. News at 10.” Dear MSM, please do shut up already. This isn’t news. If 3/4ths of Ohioans thought Taft should resign, that would be news. Maybe not for Little Bunny Foofoo and drinking 3/4ths a glass of milk, but definitely for Taft. How many people voted against him last election? At a guess I would say it was 44%, just like the statistic you quote. Figure it out, MSM, it’s not rocket science.
I want Taft to resign, too. Not because of his politics or because of his scandals or certainly not because of the news. I want him to resign because I don’t like the idea of dynasties in American politics. At least not until I get my own family positioned to take over the world. Regardless, stop with the meaningless statistics unless they are overwhelming. Just. Stop.
Categorized: thoughts
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2 Responses to “The Suck of Statistics in News”
- Uncle Roger says (August 31st, 2005 at 05:43:49 )
Did you know…
forty percent (40%!!!) of sick days fall on either a Monday or a Friday!!! What does that tell you??? Hmmm???- dugh says (August 31st, 2005 at 10:42:53 )
That tells me that…
Statistics don’t tell me anything I didn’t already know!
