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Well, based on my regular observation of news reports, I think this could be updated to "lies, damned lies, statistics, and news reports".

Here's a prime example of what I mean.

So illegal film downloading has tripled has it?

What's the source of this information -- a survey of 16,000 people aged 12 to 74.

Gosh, that sounds like an impressive dataset doesn't it?

Well maybe to the uninformed it might, but anyone who knows more than a handful of people within that age-range will realise that only a tiny percentage of those 16,000 people will:

• use the internet AND,
• have a broadband connection AND,
• have *ever* downloaded a full movie

What were the questions asked? As we all know, the manner in which the information is requested can make a huge difference to the answers given.

What was the margin of error?

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And more importantly -- why on earth did the BBC publish the headline "Illegal film downloading triples" instead of the far more accurate "Video industry claims illegal film downloading triples"?

There is a small, but incredibly important difference between the accuracy of these two headlines and once again the BBC shows that its standards have fallen a level more like that of a tabloid publisher rather than the reliable, honest news source it once was.

But this headline and parts of the story are even more deceptive -- since the stats actually refer not just to "films" (commonly accepted to mean full-length feature movies) but also to TV programmes.

I'm sure the number of people who have downloaded a 30-minute TV programme or two is far greater than those who have downloaded a 90-minute feature film.

What's more, I'd wager that there are even more people who simply rip DVDs they've rented from the local video store -- but I see no mention of that form of piracy in the article.

This story is both a misrepresentation of the facts and, it would appear, little more than the blatant republication of a piece of industry-propaganda released by the British Video Association.

That the BBC would engage in such practices must surely bring the quality of their other news reporting into question. How, for instance, can we believe their reports on events in Iraq when we get fed this type of advertorial in the Technology section of their website?

This is both bad and lazy journalism. At least most tabloid publications are honest about their lack of integrity and competence -- the BBC it would appear, isn't even that.

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