The article ‘House prices down 59% since 2007, study claims’ by Ross McDonagh was
overloaded with figures and statistics, making it very difficult to read and in
turn understand. In this way, no doubt many readers
attention would have been lost before the end of the piece. An article is supposed to engage the reader's attention, from start to finish but this just lost momentum after the first paragraph.
A journalist’s job is to collect, decipher and report the
news to the public in a clear and comprehensible manner and I don’t think
that’s been done here.
Although facts and figures are very important, as they are
the basis or foundation to most news stories, more commentary should have been
included in place of some of the statistics in this case so as to clarify what
is trying to be communicated throughout the article. I felt as if I was reading the study itself as opposed to an article that was trying to make sense of it.
The statistics in this case come from the CSO, an
independent agency without an agenda, making them fairly trustworthy and balanced. Despite
this, the editor did approach the story with a degree of healthy scepticism by
using the words ‘study claims’ in the headline.
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