Short answer
Before using a number from a report, read its label, unit, period and every note attached to it. Footnotes often define the population, list exclusions or flag incomplete data, and a claim that drops them can be false while the number stays correct. Write the claim no broader than the note allows.
TL;DR
- →Inspect labels, legends, definitions and notes before extracting a value.
- →Carry material qualifications into the claim review even when they do not appear in final prose.
- →Escalate when the source cannot explain the number’s population, method or status.
A chart in a board report shows 84 percent beside the label “resolved.” It looks perfect for a service announcement. In eight-point type below the table, a note says the figure covers priority cases closed within the quarter and excludes cases awaiting third-party action. The number is real. The attractive broad claim is not. Read the number together with its label, unit, period and every note attached to it, and write a claim no broader than the population the note describes.
Footnotes often carry the population, exclusions, revised method or uncertainty that turns a value into a meaningful statement. They are part of the evidence, not optional background. A copy-and-paste workflow can separate the number from exactly the text a reviewer needs. The BBC holds its journalists to the same standard: its guidelines say statistics must be accurate and verified where necessary, with important caveats and limitations explained1.
What should you read before using a number from a table?
The row label, column heading, unit, legend, table title, reporting period and every referenced note, plus the paragraphs either side of the table.
Begin with the value, then inspect its row label, column heading, unit, legend, table title, reporting period and all referenced notes. Read the paragraph before and after the table. Check whether the figure is a count, share, rate, index, estimate or target; if it is a share, check the percentage claim built around it too. For a chart, confirm the axis origin and whether series use different scales.
Open the original page when a document has been extracted into text. Page layout may connect a symbol to a note or show that a heading spans only certain columns. If the scan is unclear, ask the source owner for an accessible original or confirmation. For long documents, an evidence packet that keeps tables and notes with each extract saves repeating this work. Guessing which asterisk belongs to which number creates false precision.
Record the report version and whether the table is final. A note may say figures are unaudited, restated or rounded. Those labels do not automatically prohibit communication, but they affect how the number should be described and who needs to approve its use.
Which questions does a footnote answer?
Four: who is included, what counts, when and under which method, and how certain and complete the figure is.
Who is included?
Identify the measured population and exclusions. Ask whether the draft’s noun matches it. “Customers” may be too broad if the source covers survey respondents, active accounts or completed cases.
What counts?
Capture the source definition of terms such as resolved, active, local or successful. Everyday meanings can differ from an operational measure. Keep the defined term visible during drafting.
When and under which method?
Record the period and any method change. A comparison across years may fail if a footnote says the later table uses a new inclusion rule. Ask whether earlier values were restated on the same basis.
How certain and how complete?
Note estimates, suppressed small groups, missing sites, rounding and pending validation. Decide whether the proposed precision and confidence reflect those limits. For survey figures broken down by group, ask for the size of each group: AAPOR’s disclosure standards list the unweighted sample size behind each reported subgroup estimate among the details researchers make available on request2.
QuoteIt holds each fact with its scope and period beside the passage it came from, so the note travels with the number. When a draft widens the claim, for example from recorded priority cases to customer issues, the check compares it with that passage and flags it for a person even though the figure is unchanged.
How can one table cell become a misleading claim?
By dropping the definition, the exclusion or the reporting gap the note records; the number stays right while the population and meaning change. Reporters are watching for exactly this: 72% told Cision's 2025 State of the Media survey they worry about factual errors in AI-generated PR content3.
Imagine a fictional service report with “84% resolved” in the quarterly column. Its note defines resolved as priority cases closed within five working days, excludes cases awaiting an external provider and says one branch submitted incomplete data. These details and the figure are invented for this example.
“We resolve 84 percent of customer issues within five days” broadens priority cases to every issue and loses the exclusion and reporting gap. “Eighty-four percent of recorded priority cases were closed within five working days during the quarter” keeps more of the source meaning, but the incomplete branch and exclusion still need evaluation. The team may decide that the result is unsuitable for promotional copy until the gap is addressed, which is one reason to keep launch news apart from marketing promises.
A longer qualification can make copy cumbersome. The answer is sometimes to choose a less fragile fact, link to the report where appropriate or omit the number. Compressing the sentence is acceptable only if the remaining wording still represents the measured population and the reviewer records why omitted detail is immaterial.
How do you keep the footnote attached through approval?
Store the table with its notes in the claim record, and recheck the exact sentence after every edit, because a late wording change can undo the review without touching the number.
In the claim record, store a view of the table with its notes, plus a transcription where helpful. State the proposed wording, calculation, material qualifications, source owner and public-use status, as you would in a press release fact-check run on every draft. If a note conflicts with the headline finding or another table, flag the discrepancy rather than choosing the convenient passage.
After edits, recheck the exact sentence. A late change from “recorded priority cases” to “customer issues” can undo the review without changing the number. The retained evidence view should make the table label, symbol and note inseparable from the approved wording.
Why do footnotes matter in fact-checking?
They often hold the population, exclusions, method changes and uncertainty that give a number its meaning. Dropping them can turn an accurate figure into a false claim.
What should you do when a footnote is unclear?
Open the original page, since layout may connect a symbol to its note, and ask the source owner if it is still unclear. Guessing which asterisk belongs to which figure creates false precision.
Can a number with caveats still be used in a press release?
Often, if the wording keeps the population and limits the caveats describe. Sometimes the better choice is a less fragile fact or no number at all.
How should a chart be described in copy?
From the printed values, not the visual impression. An axis that starts high can make a small difference look large.
Sources
Numbers in the text point here. Each link opens the original page.
- 1Section 3: Accuracy - GuidelinesBBC
- 2Disclosure StandardsAmerican Association for Public Opinion Research
- 3Cision's 2025 State of the Media Report Reveals a Tipping Point for Trust, Technology, and PR-Journalist PartnershipsCision, 2025-05-07
Written by
Shubham Kukrety, Founder and CEO, QuoteIt
Shubham Kukrety co-founded QuoteIt to fix the part of PR writing that ends in a long mail trail: facts that drift between the source document and the published statement. QuoteIt drafts press releases, spokesperson quotes, bylined articles and answers to journalists from a team's own documents, in each spokesperson's own voice, and shows every claim beside the passage it came from before anyone signs off.
How these posts are researchedUpload the report your next announcement draws on to QuoteIt. Each figure keeps its scope and period beside its source passage, and a claim that drops a qualifier is flagged.
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