Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) is an American non-profit organization which critiques the media's presentation of scientific findings and statistical evidence. The organization, founded in 1994, declares on its website that "...Our goals are to correct scientific misinformation in the media resulting from bad science, politics, or a simple lack of information or knowledge; and to act as a resource for journalists and policy makers on major scientific issues and controversies.""About STATS." stats.org. 1

Staff and organizational ties

STATS is affiliated with the Center for Media and Public Affairs, with which it shares its offices and mailing address, and has been affiliated with George Mason University since 2004. Its president is Samuel Robert Lichter, professor of communication at George Mason University. He was previously a faculty member at Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, Georgetown University, and George Washington University, and during the 1980s held the DeWitt Wallace Chair in Mass Communications at the American Enterprise Institute.

The organization's current research director is Rebecca Goldin, a professor of mathematical sciences at George Mason, and the Ruth Michler Fellow at Cornell University. Maia Szalavitz, a regular contributor to libertarian publications such a Reason, is a senior fellow. Most of STATS' research appears on its website at STATS, which is edited by Trevor Butterworth who also writes for the Huffington Post.

Funding

While the STATS website does not describe its funding sources, STATS is funded by a variety of conservative organizations, including Richard Mellon Scaife's Carthage Foundation, the Sarah Scaife Foundation, the Earhart Foundation, John M. Olin Foundation and the Castle Rock Foundation.

Research

Among the topics that STATS has recently featured most prominently on its site are a critique of the risks and benefits of breast-feeding infants 2, a a debate over the risks of taking opioid painkillers 3 and a guide by Columbia Journalism School Professor Steve Ross on how journalists should report on polls and research results . 4 In the past, STATS has published material on topics including Gulf War Syndrome, statistical sampling in the United States Census process, and needle exchange programs.

It Ain't Necessarily So, a book published in 2001 by Lichter and two other social scientists affiliated with STATS, criticized the media's coverage of a range of issues from global warming to the anthrax scare after 9/11. The book received mixed reviews. For example, the Philadelphia Inquirer concluded, "Despite its textbook-like approach, the book offers a solid critique of the way data-based reports and studies are presented in the media." By contrast, the book was criticized by Salon.com as a "cleverly disguised example of corporate propaganda."[http://archive.salon.com/books/review/2001/07/02/murray/index.html Ain't Necessarily So", reviewed by David Appell in Salon.com, July 2 2001. Accessed February 6 2008.