How Statistics Are Used to Articulate and Shape Discourses of Science in the Newsroom. Renata ...

300 Pages·2017·2.81 MB·English

Study Shows: How Statistics Are Used to Articulate and Shape Discourses
of Science in the Newsroom.

By:

Renata Faria Brandão

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

The University of Sheffield
Faculty of Social Sciences
Department of Journalism Studies

October 2016
“All our science, measured against
reality, is primitive and childlike –
and yet it is the most precious
things we have.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN

“We live in a society exquisitely
dependent on science and
technology, in which hardly
anyone knows anything about
science and technology.”
CARL SAGAN

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To my parents.
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Acknowledgements

The completion of this PhD thesis would not have been possible without the support of many,
whom I would like to thank and acknowledge here.
Firstly, I would like to thank Dr. Jairo Lugo-Ocando and Professor Martin Conboy for taking
over the supervision of this research, for the patience, motivation, extensive knowledge and
contributions over the years. Besides, I would like to acknowledge the University of
Sheffield’s Department of Journalism Studies for providing me with the opportunity to
undertake this doctoral study, my fellow colleagues for the stimulating environment of work,
and the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development and the
Science without Borders programme for the financial support.
I thank my friends, who have been by my side and often on the same road as me.
I would especially like to unthank Simon for his forgetfulness but thank him for everything
else! You have been the most loving and supportive partner. I have no words to explain my
gratitude and love for you. I can tell you this section would not have been enough, though.
Thank you for all your support, practical and emotional, throughout these years. You are the
best!
Above all, I would like to thank my family. My dad, for teaching me that “a vida é real e de
vies”; that life is real and awry. And my mum, for teaching me that life is also wise and
meaningful. Be life awry or wise, or both, I thank you for being my unconditional
companions in it! Thank you for the love, support and guidance. Thank you for being my
source of inspiration, admiration and knowledge. Thank you for all things that, again, would
fill entire dissertations. I dedicate this work to you! I love you!
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Abstract

Study Shows: How Statistics Are Used to Articulate and Shape Discourses
of Science in the Newsroom.
Renata Faria Brandão, Department of Journalism Studies
The University of Sheffield, UK

This thesis examines the use of peer-reviewed data and statistics in news communication of
science through a content analysis and close reading analysis of statistical data in the United
Kingdom science news and in-depth interviews with science journalists. The content analysis
yields three key insights into the use of science data in the United Kingdom and Brazilian
press: (1) statistics are used overwhelmingly to treat science as hard news, (2) there is an
immense lack of fundamental background information about how the reported data are
produced and (3) science journalists tend to use peer-reviewed data in a unique fashion: their
stories include either too few or too many statistics from original sources. The in-depth
interviews attempt to explain this content pattern, examining how journalists access and
interpret quantitative data when producing stories about science, the nature of statistical news
sources that they regularly use, and how they evaluate and treat such sources in articulating
science news stories. Overall, this research finds that journalists tend to see and use statistics
mainly to maintain the strategic ritual of objectivity in their social construction of science.
The findings will be discussed in relation to a comprehensive body of literature on the use
and abuse of statistical information as a key tool in the construction of journalistic
objectivity.

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Declaration

This project has received funding from the Brazilian National Counsel of Technological and
Scientific Development governmental scholarship programme Science Without Borders.
The author, Renata Faria Brandão, does not work, consult, own, share or receive funding
from any company or organisation that would benefit from this research, and has disclosed no
relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment abovementioned.
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Preface

This dissertation is an original intellectual product of the author, R. F. Brandão.
The author conducted all of the work presented henceforth. The University of Sheffield’s
Department of Journalism Studies approved all projects and associated methods.
A version of Chapters XI, XII and XIII has been published in “Driving STEM Learning with
Educational Technologies” as “The Uses of Science Statistics in the News Media and on
Daily Life”. The author was the lead investigator, responsible for all major areas of concept
formation, data collection and analysis, as well as chapter composition.
Another account of the data will be published in “News, Numbers and Public Opinion” as
“Newsmeracy: The Uses of Statistics in Science News and its Media Representations across
British Media Outlets”. Again, the author was the sole investigator, responsible for all major
areas of concept formation, data collection and analysis, as well as chapter composition.
Lastly, as a continuation of this research, further data has been proposed for publication in the
Journal of Science and Popular Culture in the next few years.
The author has also co-authored the following paper: “Stabbing News: Articulating Crime
Statistics in the Newsroom”, published in the Journal of Journalism Practice v.9. Dr. Jairo
Lugo-Ocando was the lead investigator, responsible for all major areas of concept formation,
data collection and analysis, in addition to the majority of manuscript composition. I was
second author and assisted in data collection and analysis, as well as manuscript composition.

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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ i
Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. ii
Declaration ........................................................................................................................................ iii
Preface ............................................................................................................................................... iv
List of Tables and Figures ................................................................................................................ 9
1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 11
1.1. Overview ................................................................................................................................. 11
1.2. Background to Research ................................................................................................... 14
1.2.1 Historical Background ............................................................................................................... 14
1.2.3 Rhetorical Background .............................................................................................................. 18
1.3. Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................. 30
1.4. Research Rationale .............................................................................................................. 32
1.5. Aims and Objectives ............................................................................................................ 35
1.5.1 Primary Research Question ..................................................................................................... 37
1.5.2 Hypotheses ..................................................................................................................................... 38
1.6. Research Design ................................................................................................................... 39
1.7. Definitions of Main Terms ................................................................................................ 40
1.8. Summary of Subsequent Chapters ................................................................................. 46
Objectivity in Journalism ........................................................................................................... 48
2. Literature Review .................................................................................................................... 48
2.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 48
2.2. Objectivity as a quality concept in Journalism ........................................................... 49
2.3. Journalism and its News Values ...................................................................................... 59
2.4. Mirroring and construction of reality ........................................................................... 63
2.5. Statistics as a rhetorical tool in journalism ................................................................ 67
Science Journalism and Communication ............................................................................. 68
3. Literature Review .................................................................................................................... 68
3.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 68
3.2. The Philosophy of Science ............................................................................................. 69
3.2.1. Logical Positivism ....................................................................................................................... 71
3.2.2. Popper’s Falsificationism ......................................................................................................... 73
3.3. Scientific Objectivity .......................................................................................................... 77
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3.3.1. In Journalism ................................................................................................................................ 79
3.4. Social Construction of Science ........................................................................................ 82
3.5. Science Communication in Public Culture .................................................................. 85
3.5.1. The Deficit Model ........................................................................................................................ 87
3.5.2. The Contextualist Model ........................................................................................................... 90
3.6. Mathematization of Science ............................................................................................. 92
Mathematization of Reality ...................................................................................................... 94
4. Literature Review .................................................................................................................... 94
4.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 94
4.2. Statistical Construction of Social Reality ..................................................................... 95
4.3. Mathematization of Society ........................................................................................... 105
4.4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 115
5. Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 119
5.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 119
5.2. Research Methodology .................................................................................................... 120
5.3. Research Questions .......................................................................................................... 121
5.4. Research Design ................................................................................................................ 122
5.4.1 Mixed Methods ........................................................................................................................... 124
5.4.2 Target Population ..................................................................................................................... 128
5.4.3 Sampling ...................................................................................................................................... 131
5.4.4 Coding ........................................................................................................................................... 134
5.4.5 Data Collection ........................................................................................................................... 135
5.4.6 Data Analysis .............................................................................................................................. 136
5.5. Content Analysis ................................................................................................................ 137
5.5.1 Multilevel modelling ............................................................................................................................... 141
5.5.2 Multiple Correspondence Analysis .................................................................................................. 143
5.6. Close Reading Analysis .................................................................................................... 144
5.7. In-Depth Interviews ......................................................................................................... 147
5.8. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 155
6. Content Analysis ................................................................................................................... 156
6.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 156
6.2. The Results .......................................................................................................................... 157
6.2.1 Frequency of Articles ............................................................................................................... 158
6.2.2. Mind the Gap, Frequency of Byline ................................................................................... 164
6.2.3. Shaping the News ..................................................................................................................... 167
6.2.4 Silence of Unknowns ................................................................................................................ 180
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6.2.5 Sourcing Statistics ..................................................................................................................... 185
6.2.6 Emphatic Science ...................................................................................................................... 187
6.2.7 Presentation ............................................................................................................................... 191
6.2.8 Visual Data .................................................................................................................................. 194
6.2.9 Nature ........................................................................................................................................... 196
6.3. Summary of the Findings ................................................................................................ 198
6.4. Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 199
7. Findings ................................................................................................................................... 202
7.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 202
7. 2. Close Reading .................................................................................................................... 203
7.2.1. The Guardian’s From Hills to Sea, a statistical struggle. ............................................. 206
7.2.2. The Environment and The Times ........................................................................................ 210
7.2.3. Folha de S. Paulo’s Federal University Study .................................................................. 212
7.2.4 The Globe and O Globo ............................................................................................................. 214
7.3. Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 216
8. Findings ................................................................................................................................... 217
8.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 217
8.2. Selecting Numbers ............................................................................................................ 219
8.3. Verifying Numbers ........................................................................................................... 224
8.4. Governmental Data .......................................................................................................... 227
8.5. Environment and NGOs ................................................................................................... 230
8.6. Protocol ................................................................................................................................ 232
8.7. Visual Numbers ................................................................................................................. 238
8.8. Uses of Numbers ................................................................................................................ 242
8.9. Shaping Discourses .......................................................................................................... 243
8.10. Training ............................................................................................................................. 245
8.11. In Numbers We Trust .................................................................................................... 248
8.12. Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 252
8.13. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 253
9. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 258
9.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 258
9.2. Summary and Main Conclusions .................................................................................. 259
9.3. Contribution and significance of research ............................................................... 260
9.3. Final Perceptions .............................................................................................................. 263
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