Statistics and the Quest for Quality Journalism
By Alessandro Martinisi and Jairo Alfonso Lugo-Ocando
This book looks at how numbers and statistics have been used to underpin quality in news reporting. In doing so, the aim is to challenge some common assumptions about how journalists engage and use statistics in their quest for quality news. It seeks to improve our understanding about the usage of data and statistics as a primary means for the construction of social reality.
The book tries to underpin the tensions and issues around journalism and statistics. The central point made is that while the concept of quality and its dimensions remains a theoretical aspiration among journalists, what they really aim to achieve is ultimately credibility and authority. Hence, drawing from this last dichotomy we argue that not only the use of statistics automatically translates into quality journalism but that in some occasions it even hinders the possibility of greater civic engagement with the news.
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Numbers as information in the Information Society
Chapter 3: The never-ending debate on quality in journalism
Chapter 4: Statistics in journalism practice and principle
Chapter 5: The normative importance of ‘quality’ in Journalism
Chapter 6: Journalism meets statistics in real life
Chapter 7: The ideology of Statistics in the News
References
Index
Alessandro Martinisi is Lecturer at the Academy for Digital Entertainment in the Breda University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands.
Jairo Lugo-Ocando is Professor in Residence and Director of the Graduate School at Northwestern University in Qatar, and Vice-chair of IAMCR's Media Sector Development Working Group.
The above text is from the seller's description of the book.
Title: Statistics and the Quest for Quality Journalism
Authors: Alessandro Martinisi and Jairo Lugo-Ocando
Published: 2020
Pages: 250
Publisher: Anthem Press