I'm not the first to post this graphic. You can find it at Boing Boing, at Joe My God, at The Society Pages, at Flowing Data, and probably more places. The good folks at Flowing Data also prepared a chart that displays the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics correctly.
In the Fox News version, the data points don't align with the y-axis ticks. Worse, on the right hand side of the graph, 8.6% is the same as 9.0%. To call this misleading is an understatement.
We all understand that Fox is biased. That doesn't bother me as much as being biased and claiming to be "fair and balanced". But this graphic is clearly intended to give Fox viewers the impression that the unemployment rate is not improving when it is. If they wanted to argue that it isn't improving enough, that would be a valid point for debate. This graph is a lie.
If a student turned in a graph as part of an assignment that has the mistakes on it that Fox News made, a graph that uses data incorrectly to imply a conclusion that cannot be supported by the data, the student would be marked down. If I had cause to believe it was done deliberately, then it would be time for a talk with a principal. I do not tolerate falsification of data by my students.
No business would accept this graph on an internal document. The person who put it together would be fired (or at least demoted). If a client noticed the mistake, the business would be likely to lose that client. In parts of the blogosphere, Fox News is slurred to Faux News. I usually avoid such derision. In this case it may be warranted.
No comments:
Post a Comment
No longer open for freely commenting.