ABSTRACT
Publicity cannot be overlooked in the statistical process; therefore, the role of the media in providing statistics reports to the public is very important. It is a means of adding credibility to statistical outcomes by detailed presentation in a language that is understandable.
Statistical information is constantly used to make judgments and decisions that affect daily activities; therefore, media misinterpretation or misrepresentation of statistical news may cause major misinformation. Such misinformation results in the mangling of statistical findings.
Among other issues, ineffective state regulation, that is, the standard of reporting statistical news, remains a challenge. Processes are either not followed or do not exit.
Lack of professional skills and at least intermediate training in statistics does lead to ambiguity and/or misinformation. Misused concepts in statistics reporting often lead to comparing two different things by using the wrong average or presenting misleading graphics. The Sentimental reports in statistics are common that is news promoted for or against a policy development or government. Politically motivated, numerical headlines are often misleading or amplified to create apprehensions, by ignoring the relevance. Political opinions during the election have fraught with several weaknesses ranging from laundering of statistics and transmission of unofficial statistics from one electronics media to the other.
The case studies in this chapter focus on socioeconomics (price index) and election reports in Nigeria. The study is a way of assessing and validating the statistical knowledge of the media when reporting numerical analyses to present the reality of events to the public.
