September 14th, 2006
Statistics in the News
My wife (a statistician) would probably agree with Stuart and Megan:
Stuart Buck and Megan_McArdle: Media map gives wrong directions on incomes.:
When we wrote this up on our blogs, many conservative readers attributed the misleading figures to liberal media bias. But it is more likely ignorance than malice. Every year, scores of fledgling journalists pour out of liberal arts programs. Though many will need to pick through mountains of statistics in search of the truth, few have been taught the skills to do it.
and
Americans are often too innumerate to analyze statistics printed in the newspaper. America’s schools haven’t given its citizens any more ability than its journalists to analyze the information that floods our lives.
Which may lead us to suggest a McArdle’s Law for media bias:
Never attribute to malice what can be ignorance.