From modifying website interfaces to ensuring that metadata and contact information are clear and uniform, federal statistical agencies can better help news media and the public. A report for the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology, 2014.

By John Wihbey, Assistant Director for Journalist’s Resource

Summary

From the Scholars Strategy Network, written by Kelly Musick of Cornell University and Katherine Michelmore of University of Michigan. 

A clear and persistent legacy of the Great Recession is the country’s high national unemployment rate, which has hovered at 9 percent or greater since May 2009. It has been less clear, however, how the economic downturn has impacted the collective wealth of U.S. households.

Writing about the economy has to involve numbers, but it doesn’t have to be deadly dull. While the numbers are the story, a good economic journalist uses real-life examples to make those numbers come alive. Find people that are experiencing the trend that the numbers are showing, and you will do your readers a service.