WANE TV's Fishy Math

Update: Apparently the unseen hand at WANE TV has added the word "percent" after the number 75 in the story. The Maven is unsure why this was done, other than to correct a fat-finger goof. So, townspeople, rest assured, WANE TV is not trying to influence public perception.....they just seem to be lousy typists with no concern for detail.

Original posting:

It's a contentious issue, raising income taxes to pay for riverfront development. 

The issue has it's supporters and opponents.

As a way to insert themselves into the story, WANE TV at some point conducted a poll of their viewers and, from reading this story, got confusing results. 

Please note the numbers in the story...

As written in their article, the kids at WANE TV say 75 of respondents do not support the tax increase out of more than 1,400 who voted. Nothing to dispute, it's there in black and white and washed-out yellow. 

Now, using public school math....divide the little number by the big number to get a decimal answer.....


75 divided by 1,400 yields roughly 5.36%. 

So, does WANE TV contend that only about 6% of taxpayers oppose the tax increase while 94% support it? 

Sounds fishy. 

Then, again, it could just be the media taking on the role of community cheerleaders with little or no journalism taking place.