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

2 - 3 June 2011 Examples of well working media relations Press releases Statistics Slovenia  See!See! 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 2Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 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 by sphere of interest – good categorization of the supply 3Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 Why Statistics Slovenia deserves to be mentioned? They follow the golden KISS rule K eep I t S hort and S imple 4Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 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!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 5Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 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 8Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 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 9Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 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 10Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 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 11Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 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 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 12Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 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

Familiarity of Statistics Finland 1975– Sources: TNS-Gallup Finland Ltd. and Taloustutkimus Ltd. 14Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 Reliability of Statistics Finland’s statistics

2 - 3 June 2011 Statistics Finland's usefulness

2 - 3 June 2011 Basic principles of communicating about statistics at Statistics Finland – or anywhere... Reliability Timeliness Impartiality Clarity Objectivity Confidentiality Relevance

2 - 3 June 2011 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 18Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 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 19Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 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 20Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 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 22Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 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 23Petteri Baer

2 - 3 June 2011 Helpful materials by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (1) Communicating with the Media – A Guide for Statistical Organisations Geneva cuments/media/guide/ Making Data Meaningful, Part 1 – a Guide to Writing Stories about numbers Geneva 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

2 - 3 June 2011 Making Data Meaningful, Part 2 Available at 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

2 - 3 June 2011 Making Data Meaningful, Part 3 Principles, objectives and management issues in data dissemination Organisational aspects Media services Release calendars Dissemination strategy Measuring the impact Emerging technologies Using the web Dealing with Social media Dealing with negative press coverage

2 - 3 June 2011 Making Data Meaningful, Part 3 – Main content Writing for and releasing information to the media Who is the customer? What is the product? Making a good website Measuring web performance & collecting customer feedback Organisational issues Monitoring and measuring media activities What statisticians should learn Responding to a media errror Monitoring media – practical examples Media training 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!