Here's a story to warm the cold recesses of your stoney heart this chilly February day. The Daily Mail hasn't actually written it yet, but don't worry, they're working on it. A Daily Mail journalist has just this afternoon issued the following plea:
I'm putting together a piece detailing the worst counties in the UK - each county having one specific issue, so the most ASBOS, the most miserable, the most smokers... with whatever info appears, explaining briefly why and who the stats are from. Might be a good opportunity to get a plug in for any surveys done. Do please get in touch asap if you can help at all.
That's right, he's already putting the piece together.
True, he has no idea what data he'll find or need to support whatever hypothesis he's already decided upon but he figures every county must be the worst for something.
All he needs now is "whatever info" might be forthcoming to support the piece he's already working on. And somehow you just know he'll find something.
UPDATE: It's been suggested, quite reasonably, that the Mail's article could have been inspired by this graphic from Pleated Jeans. But somehow we think it may lack the same level of wit... or scientific gravitas:
If you want to see how this stuff works, sign up to a service like "Ask A Charity". http://www.askcharity.org.uk/
Every single day (I work as a charity administrator), I get emails from the AAC mailing list which have the politics-serving angle first, and the call for participants second. They literally invent the story first, then go looking for mouthpieces through which to funnel it. And it's not just the tabloids - it covers everything from newsstand magazines to TV news, all the way to the broadsheets.
Posted by: Charles Odder | Feb 01, 2011 at 17:01
How journalism works indeed: it's not even his own idea:
http://pleated-jeans.com/2011/01/24/the-united-states-of-shame-chart/
Posted by: Tim | Feb 01, 2011 at 18:03
A Venn diagram for the overlap would be good.
Posted by: The Worst of Perth | Feb 03, 2011 at 07:49