Paddy argues that the outlier often makes things more newsworthy as "a crude rule of
thumb", but Michael interjects: "that can be naughty - who spent the most, who spent
the least … but if you are looking at statistics, you should chop off the extremes, when
it comes to representative data" (interview, 23 July 2012). Taking a different approach
to the other respondents, Emily explains that the FT
s news values (and audience interest) is very much bound up in numbers which may appear "boring" to some audiences;
such as GDP figures that may change little, or that are rarely surprising, but that these
are nonetheless the foundation for policy and political issues which affect everyone,
and so are therefore crucial to the FT.com audience.