IP: Code Red Fuzzy Math

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: "Meeks, Brock (MSNBCi)" <Brock.Meeks () MSNBC COM>
> To: "'David Farber '" <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Code Red Fuzzy Math
> Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 07:16:21 -0700
> X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19)
>
> Dave,
>
> A pet peeve of mine is the sloppy reporting that makes up shoddy journalism
> relating how much some "disaster" costs.  The software industry decries "$20
> billion" lost each to piracy, but when you drill down on them, their numbers
> are more squishy than fuzzy math during a presidential campaign.
>
> Already we're seeing stories (on the wires and in the Wall St. Journal) that
> the Code Red worm has cost "$1.2 billion."
>
> To my embarassment, MSNBC.com is running a pathetic piece of journalism from
> Reuters on the subject (http://www.msnbc.com/news/607862.asp) on our front
> cover this morning.
>
> Perhaps someone on the IP list can make better sense of this, provide a
> better explanation or provide a quantifiable way for us in journalism to do
> a better job on such stories because right now, most of my colleagues, how
> do I say this politely, suck, at doing these kinds of reports.
>
> --Brock



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