My critique of a published graphic in the media.

The story employs the use of two visual representations: a bar graph and a line graph. Both sets of graphics could have been used much better and clearer in offering accurate information.

The line graph seems to oddly omit the month of May in its horizontal axis. This error could skew the data information to mean something that it isn’t. The line graph could have been more useful if ‘markers’ (as shown in the diagram below) would have been used to gauge the number of doses relative to the coinciding dates shown.

Re-worked graph (including the month of May )with a marker showing 135,000 doses taken on 10th May.

The ‘markers’ will help the reader highlight a specific date and shows the exact number of doses taken on that date. This helps inform the audience better.

The number of doses issued during the said period could also have easily been shown using a bar graph. The bar graph easily shows the sharp contrast between those receiving the first dose and those getting the second dose of the vaccine (as shown in the diagram below).

Re-worked bar graph showing range between rollout of the 1st and 2nd doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The bar graph used in the original story has a some-what misleading subtitle: “Countries with a population of at least one million”. The graph then later only lists 10 countries. The graph would have been better without the subtitle as it does nothing to strengthen the credibility of the story.

The bar graph also fails to give context of the numbers given. It lists an average of vaccine doses per 100 people but fails to show the total population per country as some countries have more people than others thus the data could be interpreted differently. For instance, it shows that UaE has 127 doses per 100 people yet USA has an average of 87 doses. It forgets to list that UaE has a population of 9.8 million compared to USA’s 329.5 million.

Link to the story being critiqued: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57346760