News Numbers and Public Opinion in a Data-Driven World

From the quality of the air we breathe to the national leaders we choose data and statistics are a pervasive feature of daily life and daily news. But how do news numbers and public opinion interact with each other - and with what impacts on society at large? <br/> <br/> Featuring an international roster of established and emerging scholars this book is the first comprehensive collection of research into the little understood processes underpinning the uses/misuses of statistical information in journalism and their socio-psychological and political effects. Moving beyond the hype around data journalism <i>News Numbers and Public Opinion </i>delves into a range of more latent fundamental questions such as: <br/><br/>- Is it true that most citizens and journalists do not have the necessary skills and resources to critically process and assess numbers? <br/><br/>- How do/should journalists make sense of the increasingly data-driven world? <br/><br/>- What strategies formats and frames do journalists use to gather and represent different types of statistical data in their stories? <br/><br/>- What are the socio-psychological and political effects of such data gathering and representation routines formats and frames on the way people acquire knowledge and form attitudes? <br/><br/>- What skills and resources do journalists and publics need to deal effectively with the influx of numbers into in daily work and life - and how can newsrooms and journalism schools meet that need? <br/> <br/>The book is a must-read for not only journalists journalism and media scholars statisticians and data scientists but also anybody interested in the interplay between journalism statistics and society.