Media Scare Story Of The Day: The Black Death In Your Bins
SCARE story of the Day: Bubonic Plague returns to Britain. Yep, the Black Death is back. The Mail is back to one of its favourite topics again – wheelie bins and fortnightly rubbish collections, writes Tabloid Watch’s MacGuffin.
Why? Because they might expose ‘families’ to the plague. Sorry, in caps:
They did much the same story in May 2007, but this research is new.
So the Daily Mail Reporter dutifully goes through all the scary statistics and adds a quote from the microbiologist who did the research:
Dr Joseph Levin, microbiologist from the University of Tel Aviv, said: ‘The levels of disease-causing bacteria found in the bins are at a level that I would consider to be dangerous, especially to those with a weakened immune system, such as the elderly or young babies’.
Put that quote into Google and up pops this:
The same research, with the same stats, and the same quote from Dr Levin, in the form of a press release. And Response Source say they make…
…life easier for journalists by quickly and efficiently putting you in touch with public relations (PR) people.
But the Mail’s Editor Paul Dacre said the paper doesn’t do churnalism.
Surely he wasn’t (gasp) mistaken?
It gets worse.
At the end of the Mail article it says:
The study was carried out by University of Tel Aviv scientists using UK bin swabs on behalf of hygiene company Binifresh.
‘Hygiene company Binifresh’? Oh yes:
Binifresh is the leader in automatic hygiene for wheelie bins. After 3 years of research and development Binifresh has released its first product, an automatic hygiene and odor control device that fits easily and securely to your wheelie bin, altogether creating a cleaner, healthier more comfortable environment for all.
So a company that sells a product (£14.98 plus £2.98 for refills) that claims to make bins cleaner and healthier produces research saying bins aren’t clean and healthy.
Imagine that.
And the Mail, with their weird bin obsession, are only too happy to give them a free advert.
Posted: 23rd, March 2010 | In: Reviews Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
