Numbers don’t speak for themselves: strategies of using numbers in public policy discourse

Jablonka, Eva; Bergsten, Christer

doi:10.1007/s10649-021-10059-8

Table 2 Strategies for the use of numbers in 40 news items about the “Corona crisis” from the news outlet tagesschau.de during the observed period

From: Numbers don’t speak for themselves: strategies of using numbers in public policy discourse

Item no.*	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
Rationalisation: explanation		x	x			x	x	x			x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x		x		x		x		x	x	x	x	x			x	x		x
Rationalisation: conjunction			x							x				x							x				x			x												x
Contrast	x					x			x	x								x	x		x											x
Association	x				x													x				x	x	x	x	x	x						x	x	x		x
Recharging			x	x			x	x			x														x								x						x

*The entries are ordered chronologically (titles of the news items translated from German original by the authors): (1) Worry about the coronavirus—Does Germany have to arm itself? (Jan. 22); (2) Coronavirus in China: 56 deaths, almost 2000 infected (Jan. 26); (3) Meanwhile, 13 infected in Germany (Feb. 6); (4) China starts investigation after doctor’s death (Feb. 7); (5) More than 1000 deaths in China (Feb. 11); (6) Coronavirus in Germany—We need to manage the transition (Feb. 28); (7) Coronavirus in Germany: Infections in ten states (Mar. 2); (8) The new coronavirus: Cases increase, moderate risk (Mar. 3); (9) More than 100 new cases in Germany (Mar. 5); (10) “Spahn about the Coronavirus: Cancel events with more than 1000 people” (Mar. 8); (11) Two Corona-deaths in Germany (Mar. 9); (12) Denmark closes schools and day-care centres (Mar. 12); (13) Merkel about the Corona crisis: “abstain from social contacts when possible” (Mar. 12); (14) Coronavirus: Keep distance—slow down the virus (Mar. 14); (15) Corona crisis: Traffic restrictions in France (Mar. 15); (16) RKI grades risk as “high” (Mar. 17); (17) Bavaria announces restrictions for leaving home (Mar. 20); (18) RKI on the Corona crisis—crisis of “unimaginable scale” (Mar. 20); (19) How can the death rates differ? (Mar. 19); (20) Nationwide almost 5000 new infections (Mar. 26); (21) Nationwide almost 6000 new infections (Mar. 27); (22) RKI director Wieler on the coronavirus: The measures work (Apr. 3); (23) One million infected worldwide (Apr. 3); (24) Coronavirus—Experts question the Government policy (Apr. 6); (25) Merkel on the Corona crisis: Discipline needed (Apr. 9); (26) RKI on the Corona situation: We can see a slowdown (Apr. 14); (27) RKI director Wieler: “The control strategy shows success” (Apr. 17); (28) Excess mortality: 100.000 more deaths within four weeks (Apr. 27); (29) Reproduction number: Measuring the pandemic (Apr. 28); (30) RKI on the Corona pandemic: Increased infection rate in Germany (Apr. 28); (31) Infection rate again 0,9 (Apr. 28); (32) Corona numbers from RKI - A warning despite fewer new infections (Apr. 30); (33) More than 10.000 new cases in Russia (May 3); (34) 32000 Corona deaths: Sorrowful record in Great Britain (May 5); (35) Report with embedded video: How the “R” comes about (May 10); (36) Reproduction number exceeds critical value (May 10); (37) Even more Corona cases in Coesfeld (May 11); (38) Metric for epidemics: What is the R-value? (May 12); (39) “It was said that children should not be affected” (May14); (40) Health care professions and Corona: Helpers at risk (May19). On September 1, 2020, these news items were available at https://www.tagesschau.de/archiv/meldungsarchiv100.html

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