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United Nations Economic Commission for EuropeStatistical DivisionUnited Nations Economic Commission for EuropeStatistical Division
Building Relations with the Media With examples from Statistics Slovenia
and Statistics Finland
Training Workshop on Disseminating MDG Indicators and Statistical Information
Astana, Kazakhstan, 23-25 November 2009
Petteri Baer, Regional Adviser, UNECECourtesy to Jussi Melkas, Statistics Finland
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 224.11.2009
Examples of well working media relations Press releases
• Statistics Slovenia Media relations approach, follow-up of media
relations and Publication Calendar• Statistics Finland
Naturally there are others• Basic Publication Calendar – almost in all
participating NSIs• Press releases
Statistics Canada, ABS, all Scandinavian NSIs
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 324.11.2009
Why Statistics Slovenia deserves to be mentioned? Well structured press releases
• Headline• Ingress/Introduction• Basic text• Graphs and visual presentations• Links to additional information• Possibility to sign up to receive press releases
by e-mail by sphere of interest – good categorization of the supply
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 424.11.2009
Why Statistics Slovenia deserves to be mentioned?
They follow the golden KISS rule
Keep
ItShort and
Simple
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 524.11.2009
Why Statistics Finland deserves to be mentioned? Relaxed general attitude built on mutual trust
with the Media They have developed the Publication Calendar
to be the backbone of their main and very modern publication activities in a very systematic way with an extensive use of XML
This dates back to a long tradition – Publication Calendars have been in use already since the 1980’ies
The present practices introduce the electronic era in real terms
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 624.11.2009
Finnish stereotype of a statistician
Produces figures on something that is not important
Too many theoretical concepts and indexes, out of touch with reality
Statistics is a special brand of history that has nothing relevant to say about the present
Says nothing or, if does, denies it in the next sentence
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 724.11.2009
Finnish stereotype of a journalist
Short memory and always in a hurry
Moving in crowds, only one thing at a time seems to be interesting
Bad news is good news
No methodological knowledge
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 824.11.2009
Instead of stereotypes...
We should understand that statistics and journalism are two useful institutions/professions which collect and process information on society and different phenomena
Statistics and journalism have different kind of theoretical foundations and culture, of which neither is false or true
Both are useful and inevitable parts of society
We should strive for co-operation and possibly synthesis
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 924.11.2009
Two Cultures
STATISTICAL OFFICE Systematic
Condensed info Standardising
Mathematics Indexes, Indicators
Descriptive Conservative, Time
series oriented
MEDIA Intuitive Condensed (not as
much) Free-form Humanities Typical cases Searching for answers Oriented towards change,
News and scoop oriented
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1024.11.2009
The Statistical Agency needs good publicity... for same reasons as any organisation:
• in order to guarantee fiscal resources • in order to get good employees • in order to get customers
for some reasons of its own:• in order to get good data • in order to be trusted - statistics has to be trusted • in order to serve the public discussion with the data
it can provide
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1124.11.2009
Journalism needs good statistics… because they give a picture of short term
fluctuations in society because they offer the public facts and
information for analysing social problems and structure of society
because they validate or do not validate single observations, which journalists make
because they are based on concepts and classifications which help to analyse society
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1224.11.2009
What is the outcome/experience in Statistics Finland?
More than 50 experts are giving statements on Statistics Finland’s statistics to the media, press and TV
About 700 statistical releases and 70 press releases are published annually, and all get a fairly good publicity
3 000 - 4 000 special news stories published annually in the 35 largest newspapers • Less than 1 % of the special news stories included
criticism: politically sensitive questions (unemployment, regional development), obvious errors
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1324.11.2009
What is the outcome/experience in Statistics Finland? (Continued)
A survey among the Finnish journalists tell that Statistics Finland is evaluated as one of the best sources of information for them
Continuous development of customer contacts to different parts of the media
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1424.11.2009
Familiarity of Statistics Finland 1975–2007
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1975 1978 1983 1988 1992 1994 1996 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007
% of respondents are familiar with Statistics Finland
TNS Gallup Ltd & Taloustutkimus Ltd
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1524.11.2009
Reliability of Statistics Finland’s statistics
Data unreliable7%
Don't know8%
Data reliable85%
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1624.11.2009
Statistics Finland's usefulness
Needless institution2%
Useful for everybody71%
Only useful for some21%
Don't know6%
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1724.11.2009
Basic principles of communicating about statistics at Statistics Finland – or anywhere...
Reliability Timeliness Impartiality Clarity Objectivity Confidentiality Relevance
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1824.11.2009
Proactive measures in media relations at Statistics Finland Organise visits and education
• Focus on the most important groups television, major newspapers, business periodicals economic, science reporters
• Present data sources and service possibilities, tell how to read statistics, discuss also methodological difficulties
• Be informal Give special service to every journalist in need of
it Build friendships but do not favour any partner
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 1924.11.2009
The effects of media operations are monitored Systematic follow-up of media reactions
• Thematic classification• Attitude classification
Make statistics on the feedback and analyse what should be done better in the future
Pick out stories needing immediate reaction Compile a collection of interesting stories and
distribute them in your office
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2024.11.2009
Rules of reaction to media at Statistics Finland
Be active Don’t be aggressive Be honest, admit you faults Avoid taking a stand on social problems You can react both in public and in
private
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2124.11.2009
A word of warning to statisticians: Everything you say
can be used as a story
The task of a journalist is to make a good story - nothing more
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2224.11.2009
Advice for Finnish journalists making a story on statistics Beware:
• Easy conclusions are seldom right conclusions• If nobody hasn’t noticed your finding before, there is
probably something wrong in it• Be ready to throw away your hypothesis / prejudice
Don’t be afraid:• Be critical on truths, which are said to base on
statistical reasoning• Use your imagination when reading statistics
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2324.11.2009
Advice for Finnish journalists making a story on statistics (continued)
Ask first
The statistician surely knows the frequently made errors (FME) in reading statistics
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2424.11.2009
The Publication System of Statistics Finland – main features(1)
Number of statistical releases annually• About 700 in Finnish and Swedish• 330 in English … growing
The structure of statistical releases has been carefully defined • To meet the demands of multichannel
distribution All statistical releases are archived
• Their URL address will remain unchanged
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2524.11.2009
The Publication System of Statistics Finland – main features(2)
Since spring 2007 the Publication System is XML based
A single three-language XML original file can be used to automatically publish• HTML pages in Finnish, English and Swedish (a total
of about 90 HTML files), • compile a PDF publication in Finnish and English,• compile a PDF file in Finnish for printing and • distribute the publication via e-mail and RSS in
Finnish, English and Swedish
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2624.11.2009
Earlier, before the year 2007
In the old publishing process, the data contained in a single set of statistics was published
• 1) as electronic statistical release in the online service; if required, annexed tables and figures and a longer article would also be published
• 2) as a printed publication and • 3) as database tables in the table database.
All three publishing processes were separate and employed different tools in the production of tables and the publishing of data
Data in different distribution channels were not coordinated and they did not form a consistent whole
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2724.11.2009
A qualitatively new publication process – Managing the whole The new publishing system combines the
content of statistical releases published in the online service (and the table and figure annexes supplementing them) and the content of earlier printed publications
This revision was not merely a question of routine copying of earlier data into new tools, but a complete redesigning of the publishing system as a whole
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2824.11.2009
One XML-original --> several content combinations to different dissemination channels in three languages
Publication original (XML-file )
Heading
Stat. release (FIN, SWE,
ENG)
Caption text
Short text section
Contact persons
Annexed images
Quality description
Annexed tables
Description of variables
Web site
Printed publication
PDFFi ISSN 1a, ISBN 1a
Sw ISSN 1b, ISBN 1bEn ISSN 1c, ISBN 1c
PDFFi ISSN 2a, ISBN 2a
Sw ISSN 2b, ISBN 2bEn ISSN 2c, ISBN 2c
RSS
HTML
Larger text section
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 2924.11.2009
Technicalities
Data Architecture of the new publication system• COmmon Structure of Statistical Information,
COSSI• Available at http://www.stat.fi/cossi
The publishing tool• Arbortext XML Editor
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 3024.11.2009
More detailed information
Mr Markku Huttunen’s presentation at the International Marketing and Output Database Conference, 1-5 September 2008
http://imaodbc.stat.fi/media//presentations/huttunen_.pdf
Markku Huttunen is Head of the web services division of Statistics Finland
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 3124.11.2009
Helpful materials by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Communicating with the
Media – A Guide for Statistical OrganisationsGeneva 2004http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/media/guide/
Making Data Meaningful, Part 1 – a Guide to Writing Stories about numbersGeneva 2006http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/writing/
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 3224.11.2009
Helpful materials by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Making Data Meaningful,
Part 2 – a Guide to Presenting StatisticsGeneva 2009http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/writing/
Making Data Meaningful• Part 1 and• Part 2 are both available in• English and• Russian
at the web site, mentioned above
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 3324.11.2009
Communicating with Media – Main content
Principles, objectives and management issues in data dissemination
Organisational aspects• Media services• Release calendars• Dissemination strategy• Dealing with negative
press coverage• Measuring the impact
Methods and tools Renewed edition in 2010
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 3424.11.2009
Communicating with Media – Main content (Continued)
Impact of the internet on information dissemination
• Who is the customer?• What is the product?• Making a good website• Measuring web performance &
collecting customer feedback• Organisational issues
Learning in each others classrooms
• What statisticians should learn• What media people should learn
Handling a media crisis
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 3524.11.2009
Making Data Meaningful, Part 1 – Main content
What is a statistical story? Why tell a story? Things to take into
consideration when writing a story on statistics
How to write a story Writing about data: Make
numbers “stick” Evaluating the impact Applying good writing techniques Examples of well written
statistical stories Further reading recommendations
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 3624.11.2009
Making Data Meaningful, Part 2 – Main content
Getting the message across
Visualization of statistics Tables Charts Maps Emerging visualization
techniques Accessibility issues References and further
reading
Petteri Baer - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 3724.11.2009
Conclusion
You cannot learn to swim if you don’t go into the water!