All written works, but especially news stories intended to effectively transmit information to a large audience, such as the public, should make far more use of visual aids by including, as much as possible, graphs, charts, diagrams, pictures, tables, timelines, prices of a product or commodity through time, etc., embedded within the written work. Even general education curriculums could be made more effective through the greater use of visual data.

News stories could impart a much greater benefit to its readers by increasing usage of visual aids with the major exception of pictures since pictures can be more subjective and more easily manipulated and interpreted as biased whereas charts and figures consisting of more objective, or at least more concrete, data can more easily be subjected to scrutiny.

Visual aids should mainly serve to put the story (and aspects of it) into context (historical and otherwise), they should compare the story (and aspects of it) with similar events (wholly or in part) that may have occurred in the past or in other parts of the world, and to place in perspective the significance of the current event.