Statistical and Demographic Resources for Journalists

Atlapedia Online
"Full color physical and political maps as well as key facts and statistics on countries of the world. The 'Countries A to Z' section, provides facts, figures and statistical data on geography, climate, people, religion, language, history, economy & more..for each individual country. The 'World Maps' section, provides full color physical and political maps for regions of the world."
America's Career InfoNet
This site was designed for job seekers and career planners, but it is a very good source of statistics on the current job market covering employment outlook, wages and trends, and state profiles including the state's demographics, economic data, educational institutions, cultural resources, and recreation sites.
FedStats
Publicly available statistics from over 70 Federal agencies. Now, Internet users can find the information they need, without having to know in advance which agency, or agencies, produce the data.
Geographic Information Centre, Walter Hitschfeld (McGill)
An extensive collection of links to online GIS Datasets, Electronic Reference &Ê Atlases, Statistics, Canada Geography Files, and Census Data
Infonation
A service provided by the United Nations -- a "two-step database that allows you to view and compare the most up-to-date statistical data for the Member States of the United Nations."
MapInfo
Demographic reports -- put in an address to get back demographics within a 1-mile, 2-mile and 3-mile radius, including Household Characteristics like mobility, and number of occupants, and Education & Occupation Characteristics.
Math for Journalists
Bruce Garrison of Miami University has put together this remedial tutorial on: Vocabulary - Doing Percent Change - Figuring Averages - Rates - Ratios. Unfortunately he output PowerPoint slides to large, slow loading gif files instead of simply typing the information out on a page. But if you're desperate for the information it might be worth the wait.
Media Resource Services
"The Media Resource Service is a program of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. The service puts journalists in touch with reputable sources of scientific information."
Online Catalogue of Geological Data
Worldwide geological data including maps, well logs and seismic sections. Over 60,000 items in the library database from Earth Sciences and Resources Institute, University of South Carolina.
Online Polling Offers Mixed Results: A Survey Methods Comparison
This Pew Research Center study compares online surveys to telephone surveys and discusses some possible factors that may account for what sometimes turned out to be sharp differences.
Progress of Nations, The
"…an annual scorecard of the social health of nations, records achievements in the form of statistics that measure fulfilment of minimum human needs."  This is the 1997 edition. It is published yearly by UNICEF.
Quick Facts: Statistics and Public Opinion
Statistics on media usage, content industries and issues.
Red Cross - International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
Among the resources here: Maps, facts and figures, reports, news releases and publications on the countries (over 50) in which the ICRC is currently active. Issues and topics: Thematic information covering issues such as antipersonnel mines, blinding weapons, water and war. International Humanitarian Law: What it is, the texts, their application and analysis, together with a special section for armed forces. Access to the IHL database.
Reporting Census 2000 A Guide for Journalists
Created by Stephen K. Doig, Cronkite School of Journalism, Arizona State University "This website, created thanks to a generous grant from the Russell Sage Foundation, is designed to help journalists and others make good use of the coming flood of Census data."
Social Science Research Network
Social Science Research Network (SSRN) is devoted to the rapid worldwide dissemination of social science research and is composed of a number of specialized research networks in each of the social sciences. Categories:Accounting, Economics, Financial Economics, Latin American, Legal Scholarship, and Litigation Support Network.
Social Statistics Briefing Room (SSBR)
Easy access to current Federal social statistics maintained by the relevant Federal agencies. "All the estimates for the indicators presented in the Federal Statistics Briefing Rooms are the most currently available values."
STATS - Statistical Assessment Service
"STATS serves as a resource for journalists by providing timely and well-researched analysis of current statistical and scientific disputes. Since STATS seeks to weed out bad data and research before it enters the media stream, we field queries from journalists on a regular basis."
Statistical Databases for UN Research
"United Nations InfoNation: A rich information resource on country-wise statistical data on all UN related subject fields. Allows user, through a frame-based interface to select up-to seven of 185 countries and four of 37 variables. Retrieval for current year only, provides a snapshot view of country information." Maintained by the United Nations Pakistan - Virtual Library
Statistics Every Writer Should Know
Basic concepts and advice on simple data analysis by Robert Niles.
Statistical Resources on the Web
Agriculture, Business and Industry, Comprehensive Subjects, Consumers Cost-of-Living, Demographics, Economics, Education, Energy, Environment, Finance, Foreign Government Data Sources, Foreign/International Economics, Foreign Trade, Government Finances, Health, Housing, Labor, Military, Politics, Science, Sociology, Tourism, Transportation, Weather.
TRAC On-Line
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) "is a nonprofit organization at the Newhouse School, Syracuse University, which helps reporters find and analyze data about federal law enforcement agencies. It provides datasets on-line, on tape or diskette (i.e., U.S. Justice Dept records, IRS records, etc.); performs research on federal agencies for media; and provides training."
United Nations Population Information Network (POPIN)
POPIN is a decentralized community of population institutions organized into regional and national networks in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Northern America.
 
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Suggestions, corrections and comments for Journalism and Mass Communication Resources to Karla-Tonella@uiowa.edu
Page updated February 11, 2003