ESTIMATING THE NUMBER OF HOMELESS - MEDIA MISREPRESENTATION OF AN URBAN PROBLEM

In the 1980s several estimates were made off the size of the homeless population nationwide. An examination of these estimates shows that cl aims by advocacy groups that 2-3 million persons were homeless on arty night were unjustified. Instead social scientific studies agree that the number is probably about 300,000-500,000. This discrepancy tests t he ability of the media to distinguish between good social science res earch and were guesstimates. An examination of US magazines and newspa pers found that, as a group, the media were more likely to cite high e stimates than low estimates and this changed only slightly over time. Two factors seem to explain why journalists cannot distinguish between good and bad estimates: media bias and the process whereby informatio n is gathered.