In addition to critically questioning the source, journalists must also learn to interpret statistics correctly. A basic knowledge of statistics is usually enough. Fake statistics At the beginning of April, a graphic relating to the Russian recapture of the Kursk region appeared on the messenger service Telegram. The supposed graphic from Statista shows how many…
Verifying numerical data is a significant challenge for many people. It requires time and effort, which are often in short supply in everyday life. Especially in areas that are outside one’s personal expertise, there is a tendency to trust the accuracy of media reports – often without questioning whether a so-called fact-check is actually correct.…
An article in the German magazine “der Spiegel” claims that the number of abortions in Germany has been increasing significantly since 2022. The fact check shows: Mostly True. The article in “Der Spiegel” magazine refers to statistics from the Federal Statistical Office. Taking a look at the figures from the Federal Statistical Office, they show…
Prominent internationally recognized Croatian scientist Miroslav Radman claims that in Croatia there are 967 fewer deaths ”at this time“ compared to last year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. While Mr Radman does not specify in his claim to what period he specifically is referring to, stats from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics – which he quotes…
On May 22, 2020, the PIQUE Magazine, an English-language publication in Canada, wrote in an opinion piece by journalist Andrew Mitchell that “Statistically, men are 17 times more likely than women to murder someone”. However, the author did not provide any links to statistics: there are no illustrations, nor did he offer any further evidence.…
While analyzing political statements in Croatian media, we discovered that the data we came across tend to be correct but incomplete. Incomplete in a sense that they’re not represented within context. Politicians like to focus on the positive side of their work, unfortunately that’s often at the expense of providing a full picture. Manipulating with…
On Tuesday 31 December, French president Emmanuel Macron gave his speech for the new year on the national TV news. Among his wishes, and retrospective of 2019, he stated that “more than 500,000 jobs were created since May 2017” (the quote is stated at 1.49), this date marking the start of his mandate. So, is…