The Warren-Boone blowjob
Today's lead story exhibits the Enquirer's complete lack of sophistication when it comes to Census data and just about anything else when it comes to numbers. "Warren, Boone lead growth" -- about growth in housing units -- trots out the old formula of get a report, find a few real people and act like it's real news. This lazy formula led Monday's paper, but they really work it here.
Every time there's a Census report, the Enquirer only has one way of looking at it -- how badly are Cincinnati and Hamilton County losing, and how much are Warren and Boone counties gaining? They've been repeating this for years, and it's not going to change soon. But it never says anything new, and it distorts the overall picture.
Let me put the question to you this way: From 2000 to 2005, which counties added the most housing units? The implication from the Enquirer's slant is that Warren and Boone are just kicking Hamilton County's ass, because the Enquirer only looks at percentage change.
But the real situation is this: Warren added the most (12,502), with Butler County second (9,571). But Hamilton County added nearly as many as Butler (9,246), and more than Boone (8,066) and more than Clermont (7,054). Hamilton County is bigger than the other, with less developable land, so the percentage change is always going to be smaller.
Why does the Enquirer do this? They don't give a shit about Hamilton County, and they think this is the way to suck up to the suburbs in hopes of selling more papers. But don't ignore the fact that the editors aren't smart enough to look at this stuff any other way.
Every time there's a Census report, the Enquirer only has one way of looking at it -- how badly are Cincinnati and Hamilton County losing, and how much are Warren and Boone counties gaining? They've been repeating this for years, and it's not going to change soon. But it never says anything new, and it distorts the overall picture.
Let me put the question to you this way: From 2000 to 2005, which counties added the most housing units? The implication from the Enquirer's slant is that Warren and Boone are just kicking Hamilton County's ass, because the Enquirer only looks at percentage change.
But the real situation is this: Warren added the most (12,502), with Butler County second (9,571). But Hamilton County added nearly as many as Butler (9,246), and more than Boone (8,066) and more than Clermont (7,054). Hamilton County is bigger than the other, with less developable land, so the percentage change is always going to be smaller.
Why does the Enquirer do this? They don't give a shit about Hamilton County, and they think this is the way to suck up to the suburbs in hopes of selling more papers. But don't ignore the fact that the editors aren't smart enough to look at this stuff any other way.
posted by Newsache at 9:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home