Monday, March 08, 2010

Things They Should UNinvent: public opinion polls in lieu of factual information

"Canadians say rising health costs unsustainable."

So? Are they actually unsustainable, or do people just think they are? Did the people polled conduct economic projections, or did they just state their opinion?

They often have this kind of question as the daily poll on newspaper sites. "Do you think the housing market will slow down by the end of the year?" "Do you think the worst of the recession is over?"

It doesn't matter what peoplel think! Give us facts and information!

2 comments:

Christopher said...

This is one of my biggest pet peeves in the media. They don't actual report on anything anymore. They report on people's reactions to things. But, how can anyone react to something if they know nothing about the issue? Its a terrible cycle that is going to make us all idiots (if we aren't already).

laura k said...

Yup. The media goes through a phase saying "crime crime crime fear fear fear crime fear fear crime", then asks "Do you fear crime more than you used to?"

Canada in particular is poll crazy, at least compared to the US.