Christine: Math for Journalists

The reason why I decided to intern for the Business Journal is because my portfolio was suffering from a lack of breaking/hard news clips. I have three weekly assignments at my internship: compile "on the move" (1400 words about who got hired/promoted/etc at Philadelphia's biggest firms), compile my "good works" column (about 650 words about companies/nonprofits doing acts of kindness like fundraisers, donating money & volunteering) and the "on the move" column (about 250 words on a new and interesting hire in the Philadelphia region)

Although these three tasks aren't that bad - - I could be making photocopies and fetching coffee if I decided to intern at a huge NYC publication like I originally wanted too - - they still don't always deliver the clips I want to add to my portfolio.

And since I'm graduating in December, I'm like a hungry shark floundering through newsrooms looking for my next opportunity to eat. I feast on clips - - especially ones that can impress a recruiter or potential employer.

So when an editor stopped by my cubicle on Monday morning to ask about my workload and if I'd like to work on a breaking news story I didn't even hesitate to accept. He started to give me background about the story; a forum was about to release its survey on women on boards in the Philadelphia region.

But it was when he started to mention the percentages is when I started to panic. He handed me a press release with the major findings from the survey and told me he would forward more background information to me. Before leaving, he told me I had until 11 a.m. Wednesday to finish the story, and he added that I should double check to make sure all percentages were correct.

I immediately thought to myself, "Math!? I thought as journalist I wouldn't have to run into my numeral arch nemeses until at least next tax season."

I was definitely wrong. This story needed to be accurate; it needed me to not only fact check the numbers - - but to analyze them as well. While beginning my task I learned it is much easier for me (apparently suffering from number phobia) to actually write the numbers down on paper then to rely on my computer.

It's much easier to accidentally type the wrong information (especially numbers and confusing percentages) than it is to write it down with pen and paper.

So during the interviews I made sure to double check all numbers before I even began to ask the interviewees what their conclusions were from the data.

By the way, all the interviews I conducted for the interview happened in between classes on Tuesday. It was the only time that my interviewees and I could agree to talk given the time constraints. It was definitely a hassle, but I guess that goes to show that if you want good clips you're going to have to work for them.