Author of The Tipping Point Promotes Study of Statistics

November 6, 2009

Malcolm Gladwell, acclaimed author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, pointed to statistics as the salvation of traditional journalism in a recent interview with Time magazine. 

Traditional print journalism is in decline with no way to compete with bloggers and free content online. When asked what advice he would offer to young journalists, Gladwell responded, “The issue is not writing. It’s what you write about.” 

Gladwell used the example of Jonathan Weil, the Bloomberg journalist who broke the Enron scandal story in 2001 to illustrate his point. “He broke [the Enron story],” he said, “because he’s one of the very few mainstream journalists in America who can read a balance sheet. That means Jonathan Weil will always have a job.” 

“Most accountants don’t write articles, and most journalists don’t know anything about accounting,” he continued. “Aspiring journalists should stop going to journalism programs and go to some other kind of grad school. Were he in school today, Gladwell said he would get a master’s in statistics or accounting and write from that perspective.

“The role of the generalist is diminishing. Journalism has to get smarter,” he said.  

Was Gladwell inspired by Art Benjamin's TED Lecture on the importance of statistics? (Math in the News, July 13, 2009.) Regardless, the MAA fully supports Gladwell's plug for the subject!

Source: Time, Oct. 20, 2009.