E-book guide for journalists in data reporting

A journalist’s guide to reporting numbers is now being made available to help media workers in data gathering, in the light of the alarming and obviously accelerating misinformation and disinformation trends in social media and related platforms.

The e-book, “Making it Count: A Journalist’s Guide to Numbers,” was written by veteran and experienced journalists to help budding reporters, as well as students, to wrestle facts out and teach them how to correctly report data.

The guide e-book is also expected to help media players in communicating numbers effectively, especially those who are struggling with innumeracy.

“With the accelerating rise of misinformation in media, it has become more important than ever to report data correctly. That’s where our guide, along with its useful tools, come in,” said Matt Mucha, CEO of tech company Omni Calculator.

To create the e-book, he said several journalists from different fields were interviewed to help identify the most common struggles they face when reporting data. The Office of the Press Secretary recognizes the fact that the proliferation of fake news and misinformation is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

OPS officer-in-charge (OIC) Cheloy Garafil said they plan to  plan to implement several programs aimed at fighting fake news and misinformation after the recent Pulse Asia survey results indicating that 90% of Filipinos believe that fake news is a problem.

The e-book for journalists is expected to at least lessen errors and thus, misinformation, in the reporting of statistical data. It  contains tips as well as tools to help those in the mainstream media and social media, to improve their numerical skills so they could better discern and understand data and be able to report them more accurately and effectively.

The guide e-book also tackles statistical reporting, common calculations, fact-checking, and data visualization. It can be downloaded for free on the website bit.ly/Journalist-Numbers-Guide.