Bobbi Bowman's What's in a Number? RSS Feed

Tracking the Voters — Before and After the Election

mwinter — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:02:08 -0400

Journalists are finally beginning to focus on the people who will decide this election — the voters.

The candidates and their political operatives always start with the demographics of the voters. Journalists start with the candidates, shift to the contest and then, in October, look at the demographics of the voters.

Starbucks as Demographic Indicator

hrashid — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:48:40 -0400

My leading demographic indicator is Starbucks. Whenever someone asks me to speak to a news staff or college class about covering the New America, my first move is to check out the Starbucks locations.

Story idea: Look at the 600 stores that Starbucks is closing. Map them. Then overlay income and race information and see what you get.

The Value of Sudoku

hrashid — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:56:27 -0400

I am a Sudoku-ista. Every weekday night, I solve (or try to solve) the Sudoku puzzle in my hometown newspaper, the Washington Post.

I have slowly realized that Sudoko teaches many of journalism's best lessons: accuracy, attention to detail, the importance of looking for patterns and the fact things are not always what they appear to be.

Make Way for the Millennials

hrashid — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:59:09 -0400

Total jubilation. That was my niece's high school graduation a few weeks ago.

The 465 graduates from Columbia High School in suburban Newark, N.J., were joyous. Their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles in the audience were too. Everyone breathed joy in the gym of Essex County Community College watching the Class of 2008 march across the stage to receive their diplomas.

Memorial Day Coverage

hrashid — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:48:10 -0400

Memorial Day offers a marvelous opportunity to bring some of the special humanity of the war in Iraq home to your readers with relative ease. Just call your local airport and ask if a soldier killed in Iraq will arrive back home Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday, the traditional Memorial Day.

Numbers without context reveal only part of the picture

hrashid — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:47:52 -0400

All the signs of yet another Big Brown Invasion were there. Headlines had trumpeted a doubling of the population in North Carolina and three other Southern states. The Ku Klux Klan was marching in Siler City, N.C. The governor of the Tar Heel State had established an office for Hispanic/Latino affairs. I couldn't wait to see the numbers on this huge new population.

Newspapers crippled by lessons unlearned after 40 years

hrashid — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 17:25:26 -0500

The Importance of Educating Immigrants

hrashid — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:29:51 -0500

Part of the mantra of the anti-immigrant movement these days is that immigrants don't pay taxes. Well, most of them do. If current trends hold up, more and more white Americans will find this out the easy way because this burgeoning and disproportionately nonâ€“white population will pay its own health, transportation and Social Security bills.

Let's go to the Land of Lincoln.

The Benefit of Crosswords

hrashid — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 17:33:22 -0500

One of the best editors at The Washington Post could often be found doing crossword puzzles. Little did we realize how crossword puzzles can make one a better editor and reporter.

Crossword puzzles, or playing scrabble, can increase your ability to play with words. But doing crossword puzzles can strengthen two other journalistic skills - what you see and how you think.

The Meaning of Numbers

hrashid — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:38:14 -0400

Starbucks is proliferating in upper income neighborhoods in cities and suburbs. McDonald's is advertising premium coffee. Raise your hand if you think Americans are drinking more coffee now than ever before.

The Graying of New England

hrashid — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:41:07 -0400

"Massachusetts . . . faces a huge demographics shift to a much older population. At the same time, the rules of retirement that shaped our expectations of the golden years are in a state of transition."

Source: The Graying of Massachusetts Report

The Meat Packing Industry

hrashid — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 18:45:18 -0400

The meat packing industry and changes in America's eating needs are combining to alter the complexion of the Midwest heartland from white to brown.