The Misuse of Graphs and Statics continues to call in to question ethical action of the 24 hour news cycle and how they produce statics.
The use of For profit polling and statics companies means that over a period of time the New source can flex that company to produce results they want rather then results then create an accurate representation of a population.
Further more the use of interactive polls, such as online or text in polls, that are used to as a traditional poll only reduce the effectiveness of actual scientific polls. And once again Journalism takes a hit in and the industry looses in the end.
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I agree that a good portion of polls should be taken with a grain of salt. The method of gathering information along with other factors can skew the results, typically in favor of one side or the other. Interactive polls are mostly a waste of time because I don't see how they could accurately represent a significant portion of the population.
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad, because it takes credibility away from polling in general. There is a proper way to conduct a poll that can give a fairly accurate representation of opinions. That method, however, requires time, energy and forethought.
I think the misuse of graphs and statistics just boils down to the Cable News industry as a whole. Everything is sensational and exaggerated to make everything seem worse than it really is. Find a story on a white woman in trouble, take a terrible sampling from a biased group, do your math incorrectly, and then throw it up as a graphic on-air. Even if the information is incorrect, many people watch the news but don't do any research themselves.
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