61% of how many? Newspaper take on election poll suggests Labor of love

Written by CQ Extra Staff

Thursday, 18 October 2007

It's not uncommon to hear the rumour about town that the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin is a "Labor newspaper".

The full extent of this meaning is anyone's guess, but today the regional newspaper offered fodder for those who doubt the publication's political neutrality.

A pointer on the Morning Bulletin's front page today bore the smiling mug of Labor incumbent candidate Kirsten Livermore; next to her face was the declaration: "Miss Popularity: Kirsten hits 61% - Page 7"

Readers who went to the trouble of flipping to page seven and reading up to the third paragraph of the small related article placed there, would learn that this poll, which the Morning Bulletin found significant enough to feature on its front page, featured only 46 participants.

For those "numbers people" out there, 61% of 46, equates to roughly 28 voters. There are approximately 95 000 voters in the Capricornia electorate.

Whether it's an amusing coincidence or evidence of something more sinister is not something the CQ Extra to wishes to think about.

One certainly cannot, however, fault the accuracy of Rockhampton Morning Bulletin journalist Melanie Petrinec, who wrote the piece.

In her lead paragraph, Ms Petrinec (clearly a numbers person herself) succinctly points out that "it may be too early to crown (Ms Livermore) yet".

To her credit, Ms Petrinec also has enough respect for her employers to gracefully NOT point out that an internet election poll which attracts only 46 voters is probably not worth the cyberspace it sits upon, not to mention the front page of a monopoly regional daily newspaper.

The CQ Extra invites residents of the Capricornia electorate to take the election poll on our homepage and let their own views be known on this very important popularity contest.