I am a bit disturbed by the lack of reporting skills, most newspapers show in reporting statistics.. For example,, A recent article in my local paper stated , “The court-appointed receiver in charge of the Jefferson County sewer system said Tuesday he is prepared to increase sewer rates by as much as 8.2 percent around December…”
Hello? What does this mean 8.2 percent? If you tell me the murder rate rose 50 percent last year, that means nothing. How many people were killed last year? How many people were killed this year? Give me a benchmark.
If this 8.2 percent increase is passed , how much more money will the average citizen pay? Currently how much do we pay compare to other cities? Will we have one of the highest sewer rates in the country?
Sorry, that would involve research and actual reporting. It seems to be much easier to toss out a figure of 8.2 percent and let the reader figure it out .
This would not bother me, but newspapers keeps doing it again and again.
Recently a local columnist pointed out that “The Birmingham Water Works, … wants to pelt us again with a 5.9 percent rate increase…:”
Again a simple percentage, no benchmark, and a total lack of explanation.
Another quick example. In a story on immigration, this number is casually tossed out. “Officials said the number of those convicted of crimes was up 89 percent from 2008..”
What crimes? How many people does 89 percent translate to? You know the old Who What When Where Why.
I read newspapers because they can cover stories in depth. Whoops, too bad reporters are too lazy to report statistics in depth and keep resorting to mere percentages with no context or further explanation given.
I predict that 60 percent more people will read this article.