Statistics are Misleading in the Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Statistics be Misleading in the Media - Essay ExampleMany of the unsuspecting readers are often oblivious of the fact that people creating and quoting statistics do have personal agendas and vested interests (Hodges 2). Thus most of the social statistics is often colored by such oblique intentions. The journalists in their zeal for bolstering on the issue under consideration do tend to exaggerate or subdue the available statistical findings (Calif 2). Many a times the entities like governments, political parties and NGOs purposely translate tainted statistical data and studies so as to accentuate or dilute a special issue. Thus it is important for any discerning citizen to investigate the basic parameters surrounding a statistical retell that is the entity who created a statistical study (Best 27), the purpose for which a given statistical data was created (Best 28) and the manner in which a statistical research was carried out (Best 29). Sad, but true, many of the subscribers a re mostly not so astute, systematic and methodical in their analysis of the statistics published in media and are therefore vulnerable to coating up with faulty perceptions, false notions and misguided views. It is really imperative to understand the dynamics by which statistics is exaggerated, downplayed or manipulated by the media to send a specific message to the masses. Many a statistical studies prefer to consume the samples as per their convenience (Best 52). The samples for statistical studies are often chosen by the media in a non scientific way and at random that go well with their limited budgetary resources. Hence such samples decompose to represent the total population and do yield false conclusions. Besides the statisticians hired by the media houses are oft deficient in the expertise to wean out the mutations incorporated while sampling a population. There is no denying the fact that the statistical studies conducted in an academic environment are not bounds by the compulsion to yield black and white results. It is a reality that if an academic study ends up with open ended conclusions, the researchers do prefer to leave them as such and never rush in to deduce faulty hypothesis. However, this is not always true so far as media reports are concerned. close of the media reports by their very nature are expected and bound to give concrete conclusions underlying a statistical study. Thus when the journalists are pushed by their voracious readers to yield results, they often do not swerve from culling out nonrealistic guesses from the available statistical figures (Best 32). In fact, to sensationalize their news reports, media houses even go to the extent of exaggerating or downplaying the results attributed to a given statistical study. If nothing else, commercial success is often too big a want to prevent them