Denver outspends everyone on this

Someone at the Wall Street Journal noticed that Denver's transit agency has outspent other top transit agencies, after accounting for number of rides -- and by a huge margin.

But the accompanying graphic conspires against the journalist.

For one thing, Denver is at the bottom of the page. Denver's two bars do not stand out in any way. New York's transit system dwarfs everyone else in both number of rides and total capital expenses and funding. And the division into local, state, and federal sources of funds is on the page, absorbing readers' mindspace for unknown reasons.

But Denver is an outlier, as can be seen here:

 

If Clinton and Trump go to dinner, do they sit face to face, or side by side?

One of my students tipped me to an August article in the Economist, published when last the media proclaimed Donald Trump's campaign in deep water. The headline said "Donald Trump's Media Advantage Falters."

Who would have known, judging from the chart that accompanies the article?

There is something very confusing about the red line, showing "Trump August 2015 = 1." The data are disaggregated by media channel, and yet the index is hitched to the total of all channels. It is also impossible to figure out how Clinton is doing relative to Trump in each channel.

Here is a small-multiples rendering that highlights the key comparisons:

Alternatively, one can plot the Clinton advantage versus Trump in each channel, like this:

One sees that Clinton has caught up in the last month (July 2016), primarily through more coverage by "online news."

Imagine Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton dining at a restaurant. Are they seated side by side (Economist) or face to face (junkcharts)?