The use of statistics among journalists in the Arabian Gulf: Issues around the use of statistics in business news in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

This thesis examines journalists’ use of statistical data within business news reporting and how it reflects upon professional practices within journalism. To accomplish this, the thesis focuses on the use of statistical data in business news of the Arabian Gulf—and particularly, of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—using a triangulation of the following methods: a content analysis, a close reading and semi-structured interviews with journalists and editors, news sources, and heads of media and journalism schools.
This research highlights the inconsistencies between the normative professional aspirations of business journalists in the Arabian Gulf and their actual practices, specifically in terms of their use of statistics. The use of statistics is considered an important element of journalistic content in general but is especially relevant for business journalists, who often use data to convey issues to the public. As such, this thesis investigates the issues and challenges facing the articulation of business statistical data in the journalism of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. At the centre of the analysis, the overall data reveal that journalists who cover business issues tend to use valid statistics, rely on reliable statistical sources and provide an interpretation of the statistical data they present. However, in their engagement with statistics, journalists seem mainly ‘to be ticking the boxes of professionalism’; that is, they often follow the required procedures but without critically scrutinising the subject in a way that achieves a high level of professionalism.