In 1954, Darrell Huff published How to Lie with Statistics, a tongue-in-cheek guide for those wanting to use numbers to deceive. The book, now widely distributed to first-year university statistics students, outlines how statistics can confuse and muddle both writers and readers. The upshot? Huff suggests that: ‘without writers who use the words with honesty and understanding and readers who know what they mean, the result can only be semantic nonsense’. More than 60 years later, during a period rife with concerns about disinformation and fake news, these words still ring true, making An Nguyen’s edited collection, News, Numbers and Public Opinion in a Data-Driven World, a timely contribution.
A former journalist and veteran in this field of study, Nguyen’s edited volume showcases international research on the integration of statistical reasoning in journalistic education, production and consumption. Bringing together perspectives from journalism, public relations, communication, mathematics and statistics, the collection offers a lively dialogue across disciplines that have often kept each other at arm’s length. CONT.
Sabrina Wilkinson, LSE Review of Books