The following story from the Chronicle Herald is an illustration of misleading journalism.
(source:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/1203230-cautionary-tale-of-a-convention-centre )
Quote:
Cautionary tale of a convention centre
PAUL MCLEOD OTTAWA BUREAU
Published April 25, 2014 - 6:32pm
Last Updated April 25, 2014 - 6:50pm
After taxpayers footed the bill for a $170-million renovation, the Ottawa Convention Centre now says it cannot tell the public whether it brought in more visitors.
Strangely, the publicly owned centre says it has no records on out-of-town visitors before or during the renovations.
There might be reason to forget.
ALSO SEE: Poll: People oppose Halifax convention centre
The sparkling new centre, with a glass facade that overlooks the Rideau Canal, was supposed to double the number of out-of-town delegates. But documents show it is not only drawing fewer visitors, but tens of thousands fewer visitors each year.
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But instead of skyrocketing, those numbers have plummeted. The centre would only release two years of data for the new building. In 2011-12 the number of out-of-town guests was 43,850. The following year it was 54,400.
That’s a drop of 45 per cent and 32 per cent respectively from the old centre’s numbers, according to the centre’s own figures.
Both the results and the secrecy are alarming, said Canadian Taxpayers Federation Atlantic director Kevin Lacey.
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Reading the article, "Cautionary tale of a convention centre", it seems that the author purposely is misleading the readers. He states "Strangely, the publicly owned centre says it has no records on out-of-town visitors before or during the renovations." However, later in the story he states "That’s a drop of 45 per cent and 32 per cent respectively from the old centre’s numbers,
according to the centre’s own figures."
It appears to me that the author of the Chronicle Herald story relied on the Ipsos Reid economic impact study quoted in the following story from the Ottawa Sun. In the Chronicle Herald story the number of out-of-town visitors quoted for 2012 was 54,400. However, in the Ottawa Sun article below, it is clearly stated that the 54,000 out-of-town visitors was for 57 select events where at least a quarter of the delegates were from out of town. (However, there would have been many more events with out-of-town visitors that weren't in the Ipsos Reid economic impact study because the number of delegates were below the 25% cut-off level).
I think the real Chronicle Herald story should have been titled "
I can't give an accurate story because I didn't take the time to get accurate numbers"
(source:
http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/05/13/city-cashes-in-on-ottawa-convention-centre )
Quote:
City cashes in on Ottawa Convention Centre 4
BY TONY SPEARS ,OTTAWA SUN
FIRST POSTED: MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013 06:39 PM EDT | UPDATED: MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013 06:45 PM EDT
The Ottawa Convention Centre generated over $100 million for the local economy last year, according to a report released Monday.
The Ipsos Reid economic impact study — commissioned by the Convention Centre — focused on events drawing at least a quarter of the participants from outside the National Capital Region.
Those 57 events — drawing 54,000 out-of-towners — led to $101 million in direct spending, Ipsos Reid found.
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It should be pointed out that both stories are describing the same numbers, but the Ottawa Sun story was written on May 13, 2013 and the Chronicle Herald story was written on April 25th, 2014. It makes me wonder how the same statistics can be written about with two completely different slants - one positive and one negative.
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