Reading Journalism A Beginner Guide - 1812 Words

All over the world in reports, people wonder how accurate the information they’re being told by journalist is and expect proof through evidence. This is where math comes along. Without it, it would be hard to know how accurate the information journalists are receiving is. Now I know it sounds crazy that journalists do math, some people choose to define them as â€Å"word people†, but a good journalist needs to acquire a few math skills. Understanding numbers and being able to interpret their meaning clearly to readers is an important role of being a journalist. In order for readers to better understand current issues, journalists need to use their knowledge. Statistics is the main type of math found in journalism. This can be proven in†¦show more content†¦Doing so, they need their information to be accurate with tangible evidence. A journalist’s first obligation is the truth. In the book â€Å"How The Mass Media Really Work†, it states â€Å"Jou rnalists are more liberal than elites and the public, and media content, especially in pluritic systems, is much more critical of those elites and dominant values than content in small, homogeneous systems (204, Kim).† He’s basically saying that journalists are open to new behavior and are willing to discard traditional values. When a journalist gathers information its called reporting. This differs from the production part of the job such as writing articles. On the other hand, statistics is the study of collecting, analyzing, interpreting, presenting, and organizing data. A statistical procedure involves testing the relationship of the two variables and forming a hypothesis. This leaves the experimenter with valid information to further the experiment. It also provides them with essentials for controlling the course of scientific and societal advances. Statistics can be found everywhere. Many jobs that require the individual to make decisions, cannot be made without statistical techniques. Statistics can be found in journalism in many different ways. The increasingly part of the daily report for journalists is working with numbers. According to the article â€Å"Numbers in the Newsroom: A Qualitative