Making Data Meaningful, A Guide to Writing Stories about Numbers, UNITED NATIONS, New York and Geneva, 2009
http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/writing/MDM_Part1_English.pdf
Reg Rumney
Journalists could learn a thing or two from this UN publication, though it is aimed at managers and media relations officers in statistical agencies.
The guide advises that for statistics to mean anything, their value to the person in the street must be brought to
life.
Hence a statistical story must tell a story, informing readers, viewers and listeners about "what happened, who did it, when and where it happened, and hopefully, why and how it happened".
The authors add: "In journalistic terms, the number alone is not the story. A statistical story shows readers
the significance, importance and relevance of the most current information. In other words, it answers the question: Why should my audience want to read about this?"
Some of what the guide proposes may not be new to journalists, though I wish more journalists would take to heart the idea that the first par of a statistical story should be light on numbers and first sentence have no numbers at all.
The intro below is a good example:
"JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's factory gate inflation accelerated more than expected in January, data showed on Thursday, countering softer consumer inflation and dimming chances of an interest rate cut next month."
Compare this with:
PPI registers -1.2% deflation
Pretoria - The Producer Price Inflation registered deflation of -1.2 percent year-on-year in November, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported on Thursday.
The figure is 2.1 percentage points higher than the -3.3 percent recorded in October.
The guide is full of further good advice.
Is says one should use:
• Language that people understand;
• Short sentences, short paragraphs;
• One main idea per paragraph;
• Subheadings to guide the reader’s eye;
• Simple language: “Get,” not “acquire.” “About,” not “approximately.” “Same,”
not “identical”;
• Bulleted lists for easy scanning;
• Active voice. “We found that…” Not: “It was found that....”;
• Numbers in a consistent fashion: For example, choose 20 or twenty, and stick
with your choice;
• Rounded numbers (both long decimals and big numbers);
The authors also advocate avoiding jargon, acronyms and "elevator statistics" i.e. This went up, this went down, this went up etc.
A thought: if statistical agencies start to produce interesting, intelligible, meaningful non-technical news stories about the statistics that they produce, what's left for journalists to do?
It would mean that journalists would have to strive to add value in innovative ways, and that means both better thinking and more effort.
The flood of data the Internet has made possible already presents a challenge for journalism as repetition. The increasing awareness of, and ability to use, the Internet as a means of disseminating news by non-news organisations will present an even greater challenge.