Seducing the gatekeepers: Statistics Canada's Daily and the news media

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Smith, Wayne^{; 1}

Affiliations: Statistics Canada, 26-A, R.H. Coats Building, Ottawa, K1A OTG, Canada

Note: [1] Paper presented at the Conference of European Statisticians' Work Session on Statistical Output for Dissemination to Information Media in Geneva (18–20 March 1996).

Abstract: The general public, as citizens, respondents and clients, are an important audience for national statistical agencies. The news media are a powerful tool for reaching this audience. However, in liberal-democratic societies, journalists function as gatekeepers between the public and statistical agencies. Only those messages that meet journalistic critieria of newsworthiness will be transmitted to the public. The media cannot be commanded and are resistant to overt collaboration and persuasion. They must be seduced. At Statistics Canada, The Daily is our principal tool for communicating with the news media. Over the last two years, Statistics Canada has re-oriented The Daily to make it more effective at communicating to, and through, the news media. We have worked on both the form and content of our releases. Content has been improved to bring out, through analysis, the significance and relevance of the new data. The form of releases has been adapted to better meet the needs of journalists through application of a journalistic style in our own text. The response from the news media has been overwhelmingly positive. The paper discusses the motivations and the mechanisms behind this process.

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-1996-13203

Journal: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 131-160, 1996