Hiding Behind Databases, Institutions and Actors: How Journalists Use Statistics in Reporting Humanitarian Crises

• Published in: Journalism practice Vol. 17; no. 3; pp. 429 - 449
• Main Author: Lawson, B.T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 16.03.2023; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Credibility; Humanitarianism; Journalism; Journalists; Numbers; practice; rituals; sources; trust; verification
• ISSN: 1751-2786; 1751-2794
• DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2021.1930106

Numbers have long been central to the practice of journalism. But most journalists use numbers with relatively little critical engagement. This practice presents journalists with a dilemma: how can they, and their stories, maintain their credibility when such key pieces of information are not verified? This article takes a mixed-method approach to journalists' use of numbers in their coverage of seven humanitarian crises in 2017. This includes a content analysis of news articles (n = 978) and semi-structured reconstruction interviews with journalists (n = 16). The findings highlight how journalists rarely verify the numbers they use. In place of verification, they engage in two processes. First, the constant construction of a hierarchy of trustworthy sources. Second, the discursive twinning of data with certainty - elevating databases above the most trustworthy institutional source. These two practices are aimed at ensuring the credibility of the numbers they use and maintaining the credibility of their profession by hiding behind trusted sources. These findings provide a rationale for why journalists trust certain sources over others, a detail lacking in the existing literature. It also puts forward a numbers-specific take on "strategic rituals" in the idea of "quantification as strategic ritual".