That Old Time Statistical Spin
Well, you know, as someone (perhaps Benjamin Disraeli) once said, "There's lies. There's damned lies. And then there's statistics." Back in December, Gallup took a poll regarding American views on the media coverage of Iraq. Here's how the numbers broke down: 56% believe the media portrayal of Iraq is inaccurate. 41% believe it is accurate, and the remaining 3% have no opinion. Now, in fairness, that's not great news for the media, and this poll is meant to be a barometer of how Americans view media coverage of Iraq.
Compare and contrast what I'm going to write to what Don Surber wrote. Read both and ask yourselves what messages you get from both phrasings.
Me:
56% of Americans believe the media generally portray Iraq inaccurately.However, only 35% of Americans believe the media portray Iraq as worse than it really is.
Don Surber:
The Gallup Poll found 56% of Americans "believe that the news media's coverage of the situation in Iraq is generally inaccurate."Of that 56%, most (61%) think the media portray Iraq worse than it really is.
Looks like Bush is not the only one with a low approval rate.
The trick is that both phrasings state the exact truth, but in ways that will send different messages to most people.
Detailed breakdown of the poll results below the jump.
41% believe the media portray Iraq accurately
35% believe the media portray Iraq as worse than it really is
20% believe the media portray Iraq as better than it really is
3% have no opinion on the accuracy or inaccuracy of media coverage of Iraq
2% believe the media portray Iraq inaccurately, but have no opinion as to whether they portray it as better or worse than it really is