Journalism: Odd, Lazy, and Bad

This is an observation of odd, lazy, and bad journalism.

A flurry of websites picked up the same story last month: Leaving your bed unmade can be good for your health, because it makes dust mites more likely to die. Of course, some had sensationalist titles, like "Scientists Are Urging You To Never Make Your Bed Again."

But pay close attention, and you'll find something odd: while dozens of different sources reported this story in September 2015, they are all based on an article from the BBC that appeared in January.... of 2005. It looks like someone found the BBC article from over 10 years ago, decided it would make for an eye-catching story today, and re-reported it like it's fresh news. (Odd.) Presumably, dozens of other sites noticed the "fresh" reporting and did the same thing. Few had anything of substance to add. (Lazy.)

Furthermore, the original claim about unmade beds doesn't seem ready to withhold scrutiny. (Bad.) Yes, we have this quote from Dr Stephen Pretlove: "Something as simple as leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die." But the article gives no hint about this being based on a study of actual dust mites. Instead, the article states "The scientists developed a computer model to track how changes in the home can reduce numbers of dust mites in beds."

I don't know much about dust mites, but I know something about computer models. A model like this needs to be tested with real dust mites. Indeed, the BBC article states that using actual dust mites will be the next stage of the scientists' research. So, as of the time of the article, I infer the model hadn't been thoroughly tested. Without vetting the computer model, no claims based on it can be trusted.

(Am I saying Dr Pretlove made an unsubstantiated claim? No. Perhaps he was talking about simulated mite populations, not real ones. I wasn't at the interview, so I'm not going to assume I know the context of his statement. In fact, I won't even assume he was quoted correctly.)

So what about the planned follow-up research with real dust mites? I reached out to Kingston University where Dr Pretlove works. I learned "He hasn’t carried out any further work with the wider research team since the initial study in 2005." Based on that, I have to say there is no good reason to think that leaving one's bed unmade kills dust mites. It's just wishful thinking.

Here are some of the sources that re-reported this story in 2015.

2015-09-07  the Loop

2015-09-08  Design&Trend
2015-09-08  New Zealand Herald
2015-09-08  Youth Health
2015-09-10  10 News (ABC affiliate)
2015-09-10  abc Action News (ABC affiliate)
2015-09-10  GoodtoKnow
2015-09-11  13 Action News (ABC affiliate)
2015-09-11  Good Housekeeping
2015-09-11  Medical Daily
2015-09-11  my Fox boston (Fox affiliate)
2015-09-11  NBC News
2015-09-11  Today (NBC property)
2015-09-12  Daily Times Gazette
2015-09-14  abc12 (ABC affiliate)

2015-09-14  science alert.com
2015-09-14  Tech Insider
2015-09-15  Business Insider
2015-09-17  CW39 (an affiliate of The CW)
2015-09-17  FitLife.tv
2015-09-18  Sites at Penn State University
2015-09-19  WWSB (ABC affiliate)
2015-09-23  Huffington Post
2015-09-26  Higher Perspective