NY Times spanked for ignoring margin of error in Nielsen TV ratings

The public editor of the NY Times calls out the paper for writing 3,124 articles on Nielsen ratings over the last 25 years and only mentioning “margin of error” twice.  In other words, the paper has consistently reported Nielsen TV rankings without discussing whether the differences among show rankings were statistically significant.  You thought you were watching America’s favorite nightly news?  Well…maybe.

This story has potential implications for Nielsen, the Times, and TV professionals across the country, but I guess I’m just left wondering if this means they shouldn’t have cancelled “My So-Called Life”.