A while ago, I wrote about the importance of knowing simple arithmetic, how I taught math in a second-year fundamentals of reporting course at Carleton University’s journalism school.
In that blog post, I wrote that simple mathematical errors can damage credibility and lead a reader to lose focus on the whole report.
A perfect example was today’s report from CBC Ottawa on its analysis of police salaries in the city. The oval highlights are mine.
Please tell me you can spot the error.
(Note: Since I grabbed this shot of the error, CBC has corrected the error.)