Ignoring the Data

For John, BLUF:  Reuters, the fabled news reporting organization, apparently curates information to meet its audience's perceived prejudices.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The data about police shootings just didn't add up, but no one at Thomson Reuters wanted to hear it.

From Bari Weiss Substack, by Reporter Zac Kriegman, 12 May 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

Until recently, I was a director of data science at Thomson Reuters, one of the biggest news organizations in the world. It was my job, among other things, to sift through reams of numbers and figure out what they meant.

About a year ago, I stumbled on a really big story. It was about black Americans being gunned down across the country and the ways in which we report on that violence. We had been talking nonstop about race and police brutality, and I thought: This is a story that could save lives. This is a story that has to be told.

But when I shared the story with my coworkers, my boss chastised me, telling me expressing this opinion could limit my ability to take on leadership roles within the company. Then I was maligned by my colleagues. And then I was fired.

This is the story Reuters didn’t want to tell.

Here is a data person who looked at the data and found that many public pronoucements on Black Lives Matter are not solidly based on data science.

The problem here is that an organization curating information to conform with the prejudices of members of the organization.

I thank Bari Weiss for letting this appear on her substack.

Regards  —  Cliff