Numbers in Journalism

The purpose of numbers in journalism is to help the reader understand the facts of the story, and the importance of it.

Numbers are used to show statistics, and they are also used to show the readers why the story matters to them. For instance, if a reader sees a headline that reads something to the effect of “120,000 People Died in the Haiti Earthquake”, they will realize the magnitude of the tragedy, and they are more likely to want to read more about it.

Numbers are especially helpful in articles where statistics are needed, and they are used frequently in political stories. For instance, newspapers frequently run stories that will say something to the effect of “Obama’s Approval Rating at 60%”. When a reader sees that headline, he will likely read the story to try to figure out why his approval rating has either gone up or down, and why it is at that number.

Numbers help grab the readers attention and they also help the reader understand the impact that the story has. In class, we rewrote one lead that described how the United States tested a bomb with the equivalent of 150,000 tons of tnt. When readers see a number as large as 150,000, it grabs their attention and makes the story more interesting to them.