Statistics Seminar

Trevor ButterworthCornell University
Improbable cause: communicating statistics to the press

Wednesday, March 29, 2017 - 4:15pm
Biotech G01

Ever since newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer announced that journalists should be able to find the “truth” in statistics, it has long been a truism within the press that while journalists ought to be able to reason numerically, it is probably beyond their capacity or interest to do so. But with the rise of technology, and the prestige of “data analytics” in the marketplace, is this still true? Have the heavily reported nutrition wars and coverage of the reproducibility crisis in science triggered some sense that the literary foundations of journalism are incapable of holding science and the world accountable? Is there an emerging awareness of the value of statistics—and if so, how are statisticians to respond? This talk will present data and insights from statistical workshops run by Sense About Science USA at news organizations, journalism schools and organizations.