Articles with too many numbers often confuse readers or simply discourage them from reading the article at all. But, often, numbers are necessary in an article, for example; when stating a death count or reporting about prices.
A journalist would never write, "Gas prices spiked today, adding thirty-four cents to the average price, raising the cost per gallon to two dollars sixty-five cents." Here, written numbers are necessary.
When reporters are working with a lot of numbers, they generally only put the essential ones into their written account. It is up to the reporter to figure out which numbers will be used to catch the readers eye (i.e. large numbers or numbers that are far from average), and which numbers can be left out.
Many people find it hard to focus on words when there are scores of numbers floating around on the page. It is a good idea to put a lot of space between the numbers reported and to always explain what the numbers signify.
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