WBAL Statistics Fail

I read WBAL.com so you don't have to, as the old saying goes.

It's no secret that the reporters for WBAL write their own articles and no one reviews them.  They are filled with spelling errors, grammar errors, incomplete sentences, repeated sentences, repeated words, and factual errors that any middle school kid could identify.

Take today's article entitled Suburbs Growing, City Declining In Latest Census Estimates.  But first, let me rant.  It think it's crazy that the news that we watch and read is so Baltimore City-focused.  Baltimore has a metropolitan population of about 2.7 million, ranking it 20th in the nation, just behind Tampa and St. Louis, but ahead of Denver and Pittsburgh.  I would expect Denver and Charlotte to surpass Baltimore in the next 10 years or so.  However, Baltimore City itself only has an estimated population of 620,000, making is smaller than Nashville, El Paso, Fort Worth, Charlotte, and Columbus, Ohio.  If Baltimore is only 22% of the metropolitan population, why is it nearly 100% of the news???  With an estimated population of over 817,000, you would think that Baltimore County would make up the majority of the news since it's 30% of the population of the metropolitan area.

We all know why this is the case.  All of the "good" news is in Baltimore City.  We left the city for a reason.  Corrupt politicians don't last too long in the suburbs.  Unfortunately, they breed and thrive in the city.  Remember those 17 shootings that occurred during the first 2 weeks of the year in Baltimore County?  Or in Carroll County?  No, because that doesn't happen in the suburbs.

So what does this have to do with the article on WBAL.com by Steve Fermier?

In the article the last sentence states that the population of Maryland is the 14th largest in the United States at 5,900,000.  A quick look on Wikipedia, which despite what academicians may think, is fairly accurate when it comes to this type of information, Maryland does not score anywhere near the 14th largest in population.

In 2000, the census put Maryland's population at 5,296,000, making it the 19th most populated state.  In 2010, after it became en vogue to encourage illegal aliens to seek refuge in Maryland, the population rose to 5,773,522 according to the 2010 census, making it the.....19th most populated state.  A 2013 estimate puts the population at 5,928,814, making it the.....19th most populated state.  Where is Steve Fermier getting his data?  Did Maryland somehow cook the books and move some people out of Missouri, Tennessee, Indiana, Arizona, and Massachusetts to pump our rank?

You have to go back to 1830 to 1840 for Maryland's population to be about the 14th largest in the country.  I hope Mr. Fermier isn't using the 1845 edition of the encyclopedia to get his information.

I would be more than happy to do some fact checking for WBAL.com for a nominal fee.  Please let me know if you're interested in hiring me.

For the record, here are the state populations:

1.  California  38,332,521
2. Texas   26,448,193
3. New York  19,651,127
4. Florida  19,552,860
5. Illinois  12,882,135
6. Pennsyltucky  12,773,801
7. Ohio  11,570,808
8. Georgia  9,992,167
9. Michigan  9,895,622
10. North Carolina  9,848,060
11. New Jersey  8,889,339
12. Virginia  8,260,405
13. Washington  6,971,406
14. Massachusetts  6,692,824
15. Arizona  6,626,624
16. Indiana  6,570,902
17. Tennessee  6,495,978
18. Missouri  6,044,171
19. Maryland  5,928,814