1. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Statistical Division Communication with the Media: Improving Accessibility in a Changing World Steven Vale and Jessica Gardner, UNECE Statistical Division

2. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 218 May 2015 Contents  The importance of accessibility  “Communicating with the Media: A Guide for Statistical Organizations”  Recent trends  Looking forward

3. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 3 The importance of accessibility  “The ease and the conditions with which statistical information can be obtained” (Source: Metadata Common Vocabulary)  Not just about data availability  Bringing data to users  Conveying messages  Opening a dialogue  Ensuring information needs are met

4. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 4 Accessibility includes:  Communicating  Marketing  Interpreting  “Story-telling”  Informing  Educating

5. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 5 Published in 2004 6 Chapters, 74 pages Paper / web versions http://www.unece.org/stats/d ocuments/media/guide/ http://www.unece.org/stats/d ocuments/media/guide/ Based on good practice and experiences of national dissemination experts

6. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 6 Chapters 1. Principles, objectives and management issues in data dissemination 2. Organizational aspects of dissemination 3. Methods and tools 4. Impact of the Internet on information dissemination 5. Learning in each other’s classrooms 6. Handling media crises

7. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 7 Key points  Journalists are uncomfortable with numbers – most find data boring ... but data contain stories  Statisticians need to help journalists to extract those stories  If done well, this allows statistical agencies to communicate more effectively with the public and inform society

8. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 8 Allies or enemies?

9. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 9 Common ground?  Statisticians and journalists both collect and process information on society  Different theoretical foundations and culture, neither of which is false or true  Both are useful to society  We should strive for co-operation and possibly synthesis

10. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 10 A symbiotic relationship?  Statisticians need good publicity To have a positive public profile To gain the trust of data providers and users To inform public debate  Journalists need good statistics To support analyses of social and economic phenomena To give legitimacy to their observations

11. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 11 Recent trends  Improving statistical literacy amongst the media  Improving media awareness amongst statisticians  New tools for data presentation  New approaches to communication  Increased media speed

12. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 12 Educating the media  Reluctant students!  Simpler reference metadata - plain language explanations of complex concepts  On-line tutorials?  Pre-release embargoes?

13. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 13  Published in 2005  “A practical tool to help.... to bring statistics to life using effective writing techniques”  English and Russian Improving media awareness amongst statisticians

14. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 14 New tools  Graphic visualizations  Hyperlinks  Data communities (Swivel, Many Eyes..)

15. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 15 New approaches  More interaction Discussion forums Blogs Wikis  Pro-active dissemination Alerts / RSS feeds Targeted marketing Customer relationship management

16. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 16 Looking forwards  Rapidly evolving media communication tools and methods  Accessibility (and quality) will suffer if we don’t respond to this evolution  More flexible content and style according to the mode and audience  New style guide  Update “Communication with the Media”!

17. Steven Vale - UNECE Statistical Division Slide 17 Thank-you for listening! Comments and Questions? steven.vale@unece.org jessica.gardner@unece.org