FYI: Having a fluency in the writing arts is one of the prerequisites for a career in journalism. The ability to sum up an event in an understandable manner is crucial. But people with highly developed language skills often lack a similar set of skills in mathematics. They can be literate, yet innumerate.
This is highly problematic for those who cover financial news.
On an all too regular basis, the media finds itself doing the bidding of clever and sophisticated spin doctors who work for corporations, trade groups, and others with a specific agenda to pursue.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2015/02/financial-journalists-need-to-understand-numbers-better-if-they-want-to-avoid-getting-played/print/
Comments
Sad but true....
Go to Marketwatch.com. At this moment, one of the top stories is "Little Caesars to roll out bacon-wrapped crust pizza." You might ask silly questions like "who care?" and "why is this news?" Read the story and the answer's clear: this is a lightly-fluffed marketing piece sharing Little Caesars' excitement about a new and silly product. Journalistic inquiry? Curiosity? Context? Criticism? News judgment? Nah. Can't so much afford those, 'cause we have a news hole to fill on a shrinking budget.
Off I go, grumbling,
David
I've seen charts put up here at MFO (in good faith) that I know to be misleading. However, without a very deep understanding of statistics and chart-making, and lacking the requisite linguistic tools, it's near impossible for me to point that out to someone else.
Found an interesting article in Wikipedia called "Misleading Graph (Distorted Chart)".
Covers some of the common ways graphs and charts may distort information.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misleading_graph
You need to Question printed material by so called "Journalists", if nothing else ask your self "Does that advice/information seem correct, I need to find out more"
There comes the problem...more work/research for you vs. Yea that sounds right, that guy knows what he is talking about...Wrong a big % of the time...believe it
So, how much would you pay for access to MarketWatch? Since the answer is "not a penny," they become dependent on donated content from interested parties (hedge fund managers talkin' their book), on "content from our sponsors," and on maintaining an advertiser-friendly environment ("Five popular fast food items making a comeback!" followed by coupons from McD and BK as part of "sponsored results").
And what about the WSJ, which does charge? It's the best you've got, but even they have laid off newsroom staff (20-40 last July) and are reliant on a lot of young reporters who work "the personal finance beat" for a couple years then move on (Javier Espinoza, which whom we've worked a lot in the past couple years, has moved on to the education desk at the Daily Telegraph). Why? Because folks aren't going to "overpay" when so much is available for free.
Sorry about grouching, but I teach two depressing courses. The one you'd expect to be depressing is Propaganda, from which my students learn rather more about popular support for genocide than they want to know. The more surprising one is News Literacy, which tries to get them not just to understand what's unreliable but also why professional news organizations present content that they know is crap. Much of it comes down to two depressing realities: they give people what they want and they produce what their collapsing budgets support.
Okay, back to grading final exams. It's the last day of finals for our Winter trimester and the stack of essays by my elbow is scary.
David
I guess I am a hard case. While I am not perfect in any sense, I do appreciate good grammar and proper spelling. That should be standard even in today's journalism. There are plenty of examples that show it is not. Misspelled words are rampant everywhere you go these days. It's a societal issue and not confined to journalism.
Regards,
Ted
IF you are at all familiar with my postings, you positively anticipated that I would toss my two cents into this topic pot. You are 110% prescient on this matter.
But that percentage is an obviously impossible error. It’s one of many errors that people, including academics, journalists of all stripes, and us common folk, commonly make and/or accept without challenge. Many of us are mathematically innumerate or statistically illiterate. That’s sad but true. I’m sure Professor Snowball could tell countless stories to illustrate this failing. I can.
Even scientists and engineers suffer a statistical understanding and/or application shortfall. One of the most infamous examples of such a shortfall is the 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster. The tragedy could have been avoided if the professional group making the launch decision after a freezing pre-launch night exposure had properly evaluated all the accumulated available temperature data on the o-ring issue.
Several decades ago I co-lectured senior citizens and High School level students on investments and the use of statistics in the investing decision process. Their lack of understanding and their discomfort level whenever statistics entered the presentation materials was appalling.
I sensed similar, but less extreme, attitudes among FundAlarm participants in the bygone years. So, one of my submittal goals has been educational: to better inform investors of statistical resources. I recognize that my persistence has irritated some loyal members, but I remain patiently persistent to this worthwhile task.
I have told this tale before, but it is worthy of repetition. In their early years, Morningstar favored hiring English writing graduates over Mathematically-oriented graduates. They believed the transition would be easier in the math learning direction. I doubt it. I wonder what Morningstar’s current hiring policies are?
Complaining about statistical shortcomings is one thing; doing something about it is a horse of a different color, more demanding but definitely more productive. One need not become a statistician to more fully appreciate and more properly deploy statistics as an adjunct to investment decision making. Many educational resources exist.
I like several statistical books that are terrific introductions to statistical foibles. One of my favorites is Joel Best’s “Damned Lies and Statistics”. An even simpler and attractive offering is Darrell Huff’s “How to Lie with Statistics”. Both books are short and fun reads.
As H. G. Wells noted: “ Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write”. That goes double for investing success.
Here is a free download Link to the 73 page Huff book:
http://www.horace.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/How-to-Lie-With-Statistics-1954-Huff.pdf
Please access this statistical introduction that just might cause you to shortstop some missteps in your investment decision process.
Best Regards.
Correction: Every publication prefers Spelling and proper grammer "journalist" over expertise of subject matter.....the presentation is suppose to serve to convince the "consumer".... andmany times does.... to the un-questioning public...
Problem: its backfiring on the "Printer Matter" Industry....the "tampabays" of the World are a problem to their credibility (perception)