The numbers game: A case study of mathematical literacy at a South African newspaper.
This paper draws on a mathematics audit of a South African newspaper to make a quantitative assessment of numerical accuracy in that local paper. It attempts to answer three research questions: how often do news reports in a daily newspaper include a quantitative element? How often do mathematical e...
| Publicado en: | Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory & Research Vol. 34; no. 2; pp. 210 - 222 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
2008
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=35348174&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 35348174 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 02500167 QR5 jtl: Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory & Research issn: 02500167 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: 2008 vid: 34 iid: 2 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 35348174 10.1080/02500160802456155 ppf: 210 ppct: 12 formats: tig: atl: The numbers game: A case study of mathematical literacy at a South African newspaper. aug: au: Brand, Robert affil: Pearson Chair of Economics Journalism, School of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University, Grahamstown su: South African newspapers Performance evaluation Accuracy in journalism Mathematical ability Error analysis in mathematics Journalistic errors Objectivity in newspaper reporting South Africa sug: subj: South Africa South African newspapers Performance evaluation Accuracy in journalism Mathematical ability Error analysis in mathematics Journalistic errors Objectivity in newspaper reporting keyword: Democracy innumeracy journalism education journalism studies mathematical literacy newspapers ab: This paper draws on a mathematics audit of a South African newspaper to make a quantitative assessment of numerical accuracy in that local paper. It attempts to answer three research questions: how often do news reports in a daily newspaper include a quantitative element? How often do mathematical errors occur in those reports? What types of mathematical errors occur in those reports? Twelve consecutive weekday editions of the Cape Times, a daily newspaper based in Cape Town, South Africa, were examined to measure the frequency of quantitative elements in news reports, the frequency of mathematical errors in those reports containing quantitative elements, and the types of errors that occur. The data revealed that a large proportion of news reports include a quantitative element, supporting the hypothesis that journalists need to be mathematically literate. News reports with a quantitative element had a high rate of numerical errors, mostly due to a lack of ability in or attention to basic arithmetic. The findings raise questions about the numerical competency of South African journalists and concerns about the ability of the South African media to perform their normative role within a developing democracy. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2008 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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