Breaking Down Big Numbers

I hear big numbers float around in newscasts all the time. When a number it too big, it becomes meaningless for people. Break down big numbers. For example, Saudia Arabia produces about 10 million barrels of oil a day. That sounds like a lot, but how much is it? A quick search (hint, when you search google, add site:gov to pop up only government sites) shows each barrel puts out about 19 gallons of gas (along with a bunch of other oil products). The average car tank holds 15-18 gallons. Grab some scratch paper and do the math. You could add a line to say "Saudia Arabia produces 10 million barrels of oil a day. That's enough to fill 10 to 12 million cars." By the way, on the same website where I found the gas info, it said the U.S. used 142 billion (with a b) gallons of gas in 2007. Mind boggling.

The point is, make your scripts more clear and your newscasts more understandable by breaking down big numbers and giving a real life example with which everyone can relate. It takes a few extra minutes but it makes all the difference.