We understand that wire reporters are expected to deliver quick turnaround times, but when the hunger for fresh copy outweighs adherence to the basic tenets of good journalism — such as providing context and honest data — we have to wonder about the logic of “publish or perish.”
Case in point is a story that came across the AP wire Tuesday afternoon, headlined “Study: Some women insecure about money.” Leaving aside the obvious questions (Is this news? Aren’t some men insecure about money, too?), this article doesn’t exactly paint a complete picture.
The story is pegged to a Harris Interactive survey of 3,200 adults — around 1,200 men and 2,000 women — called “Women, Money and Power.” The AP tells us several things about the survey, such as American women are “still uncertain about their financial futures,” and that a paltry 10 percent of the women surveyed said that they felt “extremely secure” about their finances. “Fifty-seven percent said they felt somewhat secure, and 33 percent said they didn’t feel secure at all,” according to the study.
Well, OK. The 10 percent number is somewhat surprising, but we’re never given the bigger picture — as in, how many men are “extremely secure” about their finances? What’s the percentage of the population in general who feel this way? Surely an enterprising AP writer could scrounge up some raw data to help answer these questions.
Further on, we find that Harris Interactive asked “what the barriers were to getting involved in managing savings and investments.” Over 40 percent of the female respondents said it was “a lack of knowledge [that] was the biggest impediment. Others said they found finances to be confusing or said they were too busy with families or their careers.”
Again, there were 1,200 men surveyed — what did they have to say to this question? Has this question been asked before? If so, how did women respond to these questions last year? Five years ago? Ten? How did men respond to it?
A few answers, and we would’ve had the full story — for what it’s worth.
Paul McLeary is a former CJR staff writer. Since 2008, he has covered the Pentagon for Foreign Policy, Defense News, Breaking Defense, and other outlets. He is currently a defense reporter for Politico.