Statistics, Half-truths, And Public Distrust

Perhaps a significant reason concerning the public’s acute distrust of the news industry is because the industry allows half-truths to fester. For example, the progression of deaths around the coronavirus. Would you expect a well-informed public to believe that the news industry, or any allies or entities that are dependent on its powerful mega-sized platforms, might have the exact numbers of people that succumbed to the disease? Of course not; so, why don’t the news media inject the phrase [“an estimate“] into its numerical data reports as it disseminates critical news related to coronavirus deaths. Particularly when the industry knows the numbers are not precise — it’s mind-boggling. Hence the need for an [All things STUPID about the news] to weigh in on these sorts of quirks advocated by the news industry.