Misleading Statistics of the Media

The media assault us with statistics. Seldom do we question the sources of these data or consider their trustworthiness. However, a review of statistics in media show that due to media fervor to get the story, the media often report false or distorted statistics that are misleading. In his book Damned Lies and Statistics, author Joel Best (2001) argues that statistics are most often used by advocates of social policy like the misleading numbers provided with respect to the homeless situation of the 1980s: "Each side presented statistics that justified its policy recommendations, and each criticized the other's numbers...Statistics, then, can become weapons in political struggles over social problems and social policy" (10). Many argue that the media seldom use responsibility when reporting statistics from activist groups or agencies that influence policy-making and public opinion.

If we look at the homeless situation of the 1980s, homeless advocate Mitch Snyder announced to the media there were 3 million homeless in America. The media snapped up the number and broadcast it repeatedly. The Reagan Administration argued the number was closer to 300,000 and no additional policies were required to handle the situation. Only after the number was repeated in many media sources did Ted Koppel of "Nightline" debunk Snyder's number when he got Mitchell to confess he'd made up the figure. Such misleading statistics in the media are not uncommon.

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ia. Not only must the source of the statistics be reliable but, so too, must a clear definition of what the statistics mean. If not statistics are often quite misleading and readily confuse the public. One such example is the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) use of the five-year survival rate as a basic measurement of a cancer treatment's success. This number equates to the number of cancer patients who are still living five years past original diagnosis. The media widely reported the NCI's numbers on prostate cancer. The five-year survival rate for prostate cancer rose from 43% in 1954 to 93% in 1995 (Cook 2003, 1). Such results seem like there have been enormous advances in cancer treatment and they may lull some individuals into complacency with respect to annual screenings. However, Cook reports that such statistics are quite misleading. This is because such numbers make it seem like people are living longer with prostate cancer, when in reality this is not the case. During the same 40-year period in the NCI study, the mortality rate for prostate cancer, the number of people per 1,000 who die from the illness, has risen 10%" (Cook, 2003, 1). The survival rate is calculated from the date of diagnosis, so the surviva

Category: Psychology - M