Transcript Building Relations with the Media With examples from Statistics Slovenia and Statistics Finland Complementary material for the UNECE / UNFPA Seminar on Census Dissemination and.

Building Relations with the Media
With examples from Statistics Slovenia and
Statistics Finland
Complementary material for the
UNECE / UNFPA Seminar on
Census Dissemination and Communication
Courtesy to Jussi Melkas, Development Manager, Statistics Finland
Geneva 27 – 28 June 2011
Petteri Baer, Marketing Manager, Statistics Finland
Examples of well working media relations

Press releases


Media relations approach, follow-up of media
relations and Publication Calendar


Statistics Slovenia  See!
Statistics Finland
Naturally there are others
Basic Publication Calendar – almost in all participating NSIs
 Press releases


Statistics Canada, ABS, all Scandinavian NSIs
Petteri Baer
2 - 3 June 2011
2
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
2 - 3 June 2011
3
Why Statistics Slovenia deserves
to be mentioned?

They follow the golden KISS rule
Keep
It
Short and
Simple

Petteri Baer
2 - 3 June 2011
4
Why Statistics Finland deserves to be
mentioned?
Relaxed general attitude built on mutual trust with the
Media
 We have developed the Publication Calendar to be
the backbone of our main and very modern
publication activities in a very systematic way with an
extensive use of XML, graphics, GIS and databases

 See!
 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
2 - 3 June 2011
5
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

2 - 3 June 2011
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

2 - 3 June 2011
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
2 - 3 June 2011
8
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
2 - 3 June 2011
9
The Statistical Agency needs good
publicity...

for the 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
2 - 3 June 2011
10
Journalism needs good statistics…
Because media constantly gives a picture of short
term fluctuations in society
 Because media offers the public facts and
information for understanding and analysing social
problems, trends in economy & structure of society
 Because statistics validate or do not validate single
observations, which journalists make
 Because statistics are based on concepts and
classifications which help to analyse society

Petteri Baer
2 - 3 June 2011
11
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 750 statistical releases and 70 press releases are
published annually, and almost all get a fairly good publicity
 3 000 - 4 000 special news stories published annually in the
35 largest newspapers of the country + some abroad
 Less than 1 % of the special news stories included in the
last 10 years criticism: politically sensitive questions
(unemployment, regional development), obvious errors

Petteri Baer
2 - 3 June 2011
12
What is the outcome/experience in
Statistics Finland? (Continued)
Surveys 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
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2 - 3 June 2011
Familiarity of Statistics Finland 1975–2011
Sources: TNS-Gallup Finland Ltd. and Taloustutkimus Ltd.
Petteri Baer
14.4.2011
14
Reliability of Statistics Finland’s statistics
Don't know
8%
Data reliable
85 %
Data unreliable
7%
2 - 3 June 2011
Statistics Finland's usefulness
Only useful for
some
21 %
Needless
institution
2%
Useful for
everybody
71 %
Don't know
6%
2 - 3 June 2011
Basic principles of communicating
about statistics at Statistics Finland –
or anywhere...
Reliability
 Timeliness
 Impartiality
 Clarity
 Objectivity
 Confidentiality
 Relevance

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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
2 - 3 June 2011
18
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
2 - 3 June 2011
19
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
2 - 3 June 2011
20
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
2 - 3 June 2011
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
2 - 3 June 2011
22
Advice for Finnish journalists making
a story on statistics (continued)

Ask first

The statistician surely knows the frequently made errors
(FME) in reading and (mis)interpreting statistics
Petteri Baer
2 - 3 June 2011
23
Helpful materials by the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (1)
Communicating with the
Media – A Guide for Statistical
Organisations
Geneva 2004
http://www.unece.org/stats/do
cuments/media/guide/
 Making Data Meaningful, Part
1 – a Guide to Writing Stories
about numbers
Geneva 2006
http://www.unece.org/stats/do
cuments/writing/

2 - 3 June 2011
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
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2 - 3 June 2011
Making Data Meaningful, Part 2
Available at
http://www.unece.org/stats/do
cuments/writing/
 A guide on visual
presentations of statistical
information
 How to
 Make good and
 avoid making bad graphics
 How to make use of GIS,
present statistics in map forms
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2 - 3 June 2011
Making Data Meaningful, Part 3
Principles, objectives and
management issues in data
dissemination
 Organisational aspects
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Media services
Release calendars
Dissemination strategy
Measuring the impact
Emerging technologies


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Using the web
Dealing with Social media
Dealing with negative press
coverage
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Making Data Meaningful, Part 3
– Main content
Writing for and releasing
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information to the media
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Monitoring and measuring media
activities
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What statisticians should learn
Responding to a media errror
Monitoring media – practical examples
Media training
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Who is the customer?
What is the product?
Making a good website
Measuring web performance &
collecting customer feedback
Organisational issues
How to organize media training?
Handling media crises
2 - 3 June 2011
Conclusion
You cannot
learn to swim if
you don’t go
into the water!

2 - 3 June 2011