Chapter 17 Advanced Reporting

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Chapter 17Advanced Reporting

• Fedler, Bender, Davenport and Drager

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• Journalists seem to believe that democratic
  politics, which alone underwrites their craft, is
  a self-perpetuating machine that can withstand
  any amount of undermining. They are wrong.
• (James Carey, journalism educator)

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Five Categories in Advanced Reporting

• In-depth stories
• Statistical material
• Informal polls
• Computer-assisted reporting
• Converging media

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Using Statistics

• Transform those numbers into words, or your
  readers eyes will glaze over.
• Statistics are excellent evidence and build
  credibility when used properly.
• Relying too heavily on raw numbers, however, will
  be confusing.
• Explain what the numbers mean. If you have a 2
  increase in property tax, how much is that for
  the average home.

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• Use a range of property values and show the
  reader how much more she is going to have to pay.
• This will buttress the humanity of the story. How
  will the reader be affected?
• If you write about trends, make sure you consider
  how demographics will alter these trends age,
  sex, race and religion.
• Make sure the statistics are aimed at a target
  dealing with a human element.

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• In elections, statistics can help voters
  understand into which demographic they fit, as
  well as see demographically who is opposition.
• Bloc votes are identified by appropriate use of
  statistics ethnic group gender group
  conservative or liberal.
• The Landslides are revealed.
• When using statistics, keep it simple and
  remember they can be deceiving.

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• A mayor wants more taxes, so he tells the media
  and employees the tax revenue is up only 2,
  while employee insurance paid by the city is up
  15.
• 2 of tax revenue is 2 billion
• 15 of employee insurance rate is only 120,000.
• Percentages are all relative.
• Traffic deaths can easily increase 100 in a year
  in a small town if only one person died last
  year.

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• Who really said, "There are lies, damned lies,
  and statistics" Mark Twain or Benjamin Disraeli?
• Joel Best, professor of sociology at the
  University of Delaware, settles the question once
  and for all Disraeli (whom Twain credits for his
  use of the remark in his autobiography).
• The quote's misattribution is similar to the
  twisted course statistics often take as they
  "mutate" into chart monsters with slim relation
  to original numbers, or reality.

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You can even use graphics in a way to be
deceptive, or at least difficult to understand.
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Conducting Informal Polls

• How was the survey conducted?
• How were the people chosen?
• How were the questions worded and ordered?
• The sample may be chosen by non-probability or by
  probability sampling methods.

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• Non-probability sampling methods include all
  those in which respondents are selected without
  randomness, without the requirement that every
  person in the population have an equal chance of
  being interviewed.
• One type of non-probability sample is the
  available sample, in which the interviewers
  choose as respondents people who are readily
  accessible.

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• In choosing a volunteer sample, interviewers
  select volunteers to survey.
• For a quota sample, the interviewers choose
  respondents based on prearranged categories of
  characteristics, such as 50 men and 50 women for
  a specific quota.
• To make up a purposive sample, the interviewers
  select respondents from subgroups in the
  population because they have specific
  characteristics or qualities. For instance, only
  those people who say they eat yogurt

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• Probability sampling methods allow the researcher
  a better chance of accurately choosing
  representative respondents.
• It is the only method that makes it possible to
  estimate the amount of error that the sample will
  produce.
• A random sample is the result of a probability
  sampling method. The term random does not suggest
  haphazardness.
• A random sample is set up systematically, so
  that every member of the population being studied
  has an equal chance of being included in the
  sample.

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• So, the unreliability of an informal poll is
  understood.
• Some news organizations contract with
  professional pollsters.
• Press-Register / USA Poll.
• Informal polls are still interesting and enable
  reporters to localize issues in the news.
• The best use is to summarize trends or highlight
  them.
• Identify everyone quoted in a poll story, and
  quote only those who say something unusual or
  important.

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Using Computers to get Answers

• Twenty years ago, only national or large regional
  newspapers were using computers to help spot
  trends and patterns in the information they
  gathered.
• More than 95 of newspapers today use computers
  as reporting tools.
• Databases are nothing new, but computer-assisted
  reporting has opened many more of them to the
  public.

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• Looking for sources experts and ordinary people
  to interview
• Looking for ideas for new messages (news stories,
  advertisements, etc.)
• Looking for examples of the conventional wisdom
  or the current "take" on a topic that is the
  subject of the message being prepared
• Finding background information about a topic,
  about potential audience members, about previous
  messages on that subject, etc.

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• Locating statistics and checking facts
• Getting or creating data sets for in-house
  analysis (census data, demographic and
  psychographic data, government files, etc.)
• Looking for key source or foundational documents
• Looking for public records
• Data-crunching tools allow reporters and editors
  to do their own analysis of files created by
  others.

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• Access
• ACT
• Gold Mine
• Alpha
• Approach
• Paradox
• FoxPro
• Computer-assisted reporting does not replace
  good, old-fashioned reporting skills.
• These are just tools to provide reporters with
  more access to information that the public needs.

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Converging Media

• Convergence forces us to be flexible, versed in
  new technology for print, broadcast and Internet.
• To prepare for the future, learn to adapt the
  information you gather for presentation in a
  variety of ways or number of platforms.
• Write well, take decent digital photos, practice
  your broadcast voice and practice with some
  video cameras.

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Checklist for Using Statistics

• Verify your information and source
• Make the important or unusual aspect of the
  statistics your storys point
• Be concise help readers understand
• Look for interesting links, but dont claim
  causation, unless you have PROOF.
• Let the numbers speak for themselves. No
  editorializing, please.

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Checklist for Using Polls

• Use open-ended questions and try to get
  specifics.
• Make the lead specific.
• Dont shift too quickly to quotes.
• Look for trends.
• Write strong transition.
• Do not criticize responses.
• Do not imply an informal poll can be generalized
  to the entire population.