STATISTICS IN MEDIA MISLEADING, PROFESSOR SAYS The news media frequently use misleading statistics when reporting trends in public threats and should change the way they offer such information, according to a series of studies by a UC Davis professor. Charles R. Berger, a professor and chair of the communication department, found that the media increase consumers' apprehension by reporting the frequency of threats like burglary, cancer and traffic accidents. Instead, he says, they should use rates that factor in population changes over the same period to provide accurate accounts. Berger will present his research Monday, Nov. 23, at the annual conference of the National Communication Association in New York City. "Because the news media are purported to serve a 'watchdog function' ... it is reasonable to expect the 'watchdog' to provide realistic assessments of threats and risks," Berger writes in his paper. "It is hardly in the public's interest to have watchdogs that bark too often, too loudly and without reasonable cause." In his three studies, Berger found that reports about population increases moderated responses -- especially men's -- to subsequent news reports on the increasing frequency of threats.