Wednesday 10th May 2017

Afternoon meeting: Statistics, the media and public engagement

David Spiegelhalter, RSS President and Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk in the Statistical Laboratory, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge [Presentation]

Getting the numbers out there: the public role of statisticians

Whether or not we are entering a 'post-truth' society, it is certainly true that statistics are generally used to bolster someone's argument rather than encouraging people to make up their own, better-informed, minds. Using good and bad examples of stats communication, I shall optimistically suggest that it is possible to introduce balanced quantitative evidence into private decisions and public debate, and that this is a vital role for the statistical community. I shall also show what can happen when it all goes wrong.

Chris Cook, Policy editor, Newsnight CANCELLED

How computing power is changing the news: a case for optimism and reasons to be worried.

One very heartening aspect of news in recent years has been the rising prestige of statistical competence in newsrooms. Reporters are getting better. But are there risks that journalism will tip into junk science?

Helen Kennedy, Chair in Digital Society, Department of Sociological Studies / Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Sheffield, Seeing Data project (http://seeingdata.org/) [Presentation]

How people respond to data visualisations and why this matters

Data visualisations are increasingly ubiquitous, but not much is known about how ‘ordinary people’ engage with them. This talk will present findings from the Seeing Data research project (http://seeingdata.org/), which aimed to fill this gap through empirical research. We found that a range of social, human factors have an impact on engagement, and we argue that these have implications for how we think about and measure the effectiveness of visualisations. The findings also have important implications for visualisation designers, for the practice of making visualisations, and approaches to statistical education.

Jairo Lugo-Ocando, Associate Professor, School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds [Presentation]

Poor numbers, poor news: the ideology of poverty statistics in the news media

Why have mainstream journalists effectively failed to bring into account those who have unscrupulously used statistics on poverty to advance their own political agenda while neglecting to address the structural issues? One possible explanation is that while the dissemination of poverty statistics by government officials, multilateral organisations, NGOs and other key actors has become increasingly, journalists instead have seen their ability to engage critically with these statistics diminished by decreasing resources in the newsroom and the lack of statistical awareness and education. To be sure, over the years, officials have allocated a substantial amount of resources into public relations efforts towards spinning poverty statistics to the audiences while in parallel there has been a growing deficit in the ability of journalists to deal properly with numbers, given their lack of knowledge, time and other resources. The consequence of this news deficit is an over-reliance upon the explanatory frameworks offered by official sources who not only provide the interpretation of the statistics but also define their meaning in the public imagination. This is not only fundamentally problematic for the purported role of journalism as a watchdog of democracy but also profoundly detrimental to the process of public policy formulation, allowing politicians and pressure to advance ideologically-driven social policy

Jonathan Hope (Analytical Section Head, NHS Digital and RSS ambassador) and Kristina Wilcock (Senior Media Relations Manager, NHS Digital) [Presentation]

Official Statistics in the news: How statisticians and media professionals work together to ensure Official Statistics are reported in an independent objective and accurate way.

Official Statistics are a common source of news stories. This talk will look at how we compile and publish statistics on a variety of topics, meet our duty to provide information to the public in a manner that is independent and objective, and ensure the stories we tell are picked up in the press, engaging and targeted.

Registration required: The event is open to all and free to attend but registration is required to keep track of numbers, please register at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/afternoon-meeting-statistics-the-media-and-public-engagement-tickets-33242144148

Venue: Medical Lecture Theatre, Worsley Building, University of Leeds, Wednesday 10^th May 13:30-16:30, refreshments (teas/coffees, lunch not provided) outside the lecture theatre from 13:00-13:30