Understanding Quality of Statistics in News Stories

Abstract

The quality of statistical information is a critical aspect underlying the success, or the failure, in fulfilling the objectives both of official statistics and of journalistic inquiry. According to the available literature, the quality of statistics is generally assessed by, and based on, five dimensions: Relevance, Accuracy, Timeliness, Accessibility and Coherence. Such assessment puts the users'/readers' viewpoints in the forefront, particularly when they dealing with statistical information as disseminated in news stories. This chapter is a theoretical approach to the issues involved in the audience's and user's views on the quality of statistical information. This chapter tries first to contextualise and problematise the notion of “quality”, both in statistical information and in journalism practice. It concludes with general remarks about the need for an efficient approach and new methods of examining how quality of statistics is understood in news stories.