Peter says:  AP article says: Nationwide, more than a quarter-million  hives 
were found empty in
March.  And he asks where they get their  numbers?
 
Who knows where the press gets its numbers.  
 
Reporters nowadays think fact checking consists of getting the correct  
spelling of the names of people they often misquote. 
 
National publications, including most scientific journals, have a policy  
AGAINST providing a copy of the article to the people quoted prior to  
publication.  That came through loud and clear a few years ago at a  Journalist's 
Symposium held in conjunction with a National Animal Behavior  Society in Missoula.
 
What I learned was: many of the major journals,  newspapers, and  magazines 
can and will fire a reporter who sends an advance copy back  to the people 
interviewed. They argue that they have the right and an  obligation to write 
stories without undue influence by the people contacted,  while putting the story 
together.  
 
All of which seems bogus to me.  No reporter or editor has to make  changes 
suggested by the source(s) of their information.  Fact checking  should be just 
that -- get the facts straight.  Reporters and especially  their editors will 
put whatever spin on a story that they like,  but they should be required to 
be factual.
 
That's why a few years ago, relative to some of our other work (not CCD) a  
magazine like Forbes got the story all wrong, while ironically the Enquirer  
actually it right.
 
Jerry



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