Media Run With Fake Santa Story, Warn of Health Risks

iMediaEthics publishes international media ethics news stories and investigations into journalism ethics lapses.

Menu

Home » Fake News»

(Credit: KevinDooley, Flickr)

With some journalists lamenting that the media don’t take scientists seriously enough, Newsweek has now pointed out that some are taking them way, way too seriously. Now, they are attacking Santa Claus after the British Medical Journal published a humorous paper by Nathan Grills on Saint Nick’s less than exemplary health behavior.

Science journals occasionally publish holiday-themed stories that are either an outright farce, or obviously too fluffy to have been accepted into the magazine on their own merit. (We wrote about a disappointingly silly Halloween-themed “ghost” story in the New England Journal of Medicine this October). It shouldn’t be that hard to get the joke, but Newsweek reports, this Christmas, it was.

Ashley Merryman writes,

Alerted to the article through a press release, news outlets everywhere immediately started reporting on Grills’s article. Headlines proclaimed: “Santa Should Get Off His Sleigh, Jog to Trim Image, Doctor Says“; “Santa Promotes Obesity and Drink-Driving, Claims Health Expert“; and, of course, “Bad Santa.”

Every wire service carried a version of the report. The international wire services AFP and AP wrote that Grills had established a relationship between Santa belief and obesity, and that he also warned against sitting on Santa’s lap: it would lead to the spread of infectious disease.

Here’s the thing. The entire “study” was a joke. It was satire. You’ve heard of Christmas in July? Well, this was April Fool’s Day in December.

(Links original to Newsweek)

It wasn’t hard to get that the paper was joke-y, Merryman writes, but if anyone had looked at the report itself, and not just the press release, they would have seen that it was more than joke-ish. It really was a joke. Footnotes led to unrelated papers or yahoo pages, the piece is coauthored by an illustrator, and Grills never quantifies his claims about Santa’s influence on obesity, drinking, and seat-belt use. The article states that the piece was not peer-reviewed, and it appears in a section of the journal with several other, seemingly-satirical articles. According to Merryman, “when I asked Grills to tell me about the specifics of the correlation, he instantly replied that there was no research on point; it was just a joke.”

Beyond attacking Santa, the story also spawned a reaction against Grills, Merryman writes:

A reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution blasted him with “Sometimes Scrooge has a medical degree and an Aussie accent.” Another editorial proclaimed that the report was “wasted science” and “downright Grinch-like.”

Around the world, Grills has been attacked as a mean-spirited Christmas killjoy.

(Links original to Newsweek)

We feel for Grills. It was obvious that this was a spoof paper, and according to Merryman, “Grills does not consider Santa to be an actual public-health menace. He isn’t a Grinch. And he isn’t trying to kill anyone’s belief in Santa.” The Newsweek story also points out that the AFP filed a new story saying Grills’ article was a joke, but never corrected their first piece.

At the same time, if science journals could refrain from publishing this stuff in the first place, they wouldn’t risk confusing susceptible journalists. In this case, it seems like the joke section was a clear indication. But in other instances, it hasn’t seemed so clear cut.  Less astute journalists shouldn’t have to wonder if science papers publishd in reputable journals are a farce, though they should, of course, check them.

Submit a tip / Report a problem

Media Run With Fake Santa Story, Warn of Health Risks

Share this article:

คาสิโน
slot demo
sa gaming
tkb365
https://tkb399.com/login
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
ทำความรู้จักกับ
PG
สล็อต
tkb138
ซุปเปอร์สล็อต
sa gaming
https://www.hotelplayagolf.com/es/instalaciones/piscinas
tkb365
บาคาร่า
สล็อตเว็บตรง
บาคาร่า
ทดลองเล่นสล็อตฟรี
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต pg
สล็อตเว็บตรง
tkb138
ซุปเปอร์สล็อต
tkb138
tkb365
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
changbet789
สูตรสล็อต pg ทดลองเล่นฟรี
สล็อต ดาวน์โหลด รับเครดิตฟรี
สล็อต
tkb138
https://www.hotelalbora.com/
https://tkb108.co/register
tkb696
เว็บบาคาร่าโดยตรง
changbet789
สล็อตทดลอง
pg
betflix
pg slot
สล็อต
สล็อต
sbobet
tkb138
https://titanium-hotel.com/
สล็อต
tkb138
taokaebet
tkb777
อันดับแรก
คาสิโน
changbet789
แจกเครดิตฟรี 100%
ทดลองเล่นสล็อตทุกค่ายฟรี
สล็อต
changbet789
tkb365
changbet789
finfinbet
changbet789
tkb108
tkbneko
สล็อต
สล็อต
ลองเล่นสล็อต
สล็อต
https://www.gday96.com/
สล็อต888
สล็อต
PG
บาคาร่าเว็บตรง
changbet789
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต pg
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
ทดลองเล่นสล็อตฟรี
tkb365
tkb365
tkb365
tkb555
tkb555
tkb555
tkb555
tkb555
tkb555
tkb555
tkbking
tkbking
tkbking
tkbking
tkbking
tkbking
thb889
thb889
thb889
thb889
thb889
thb889
thb889
tkb4
tkb4
tkb4
tkb4
tkb4
tkb4
tkb4
tkb9
tkb9
tkb9
tkb9
tkb9
tkb9
tkb9
tkb33
tkb33
tkb33
tkb33
tkb33
tkb33
tkb33
finfinbet
finfinbet
finfinbet
finfinbet
finfinbet
finfinbet
finfinbet
TKB96
tkb96
tkb96
tkb96
tkb96
tkb96
tkb96
tkbfun
tkbfun
tkbfun
tkbfun
tkbfun
tkbfun
tkbfun
tkbpg
tkbpg
tkbpg
tkbpg
tkbpg
tkbpg
tkbpg
tkbpussy
tkbpussy
tkbpussy
tkbpussy
tkbpussy
tkbpussy
tkbpussy
tkbrich
tkbrich
tkbrich
tkbrich
tkbrich
tkbrich
tkbrich
tkbsexy
tkbsexy
tkbsexy
tkbsexy
tkbsexy
tkbsexy
tkb777
tkb777
tkb777
tkb777
tkb777
tkb777
tkb777
taokaebet
taokaebet
taokaebet
taokaebet
taokaebet
taokaebet
taokaebet
tkbsexy
tkbrich
tkbpussy
tkbpg
tkbfun
tkb96
tkb33
tkb9
tkb4
thb889
tkbking
tkb555
tkb365
changbet789
บาคาร่า
คาสิโนออนไลน์
sa gaming
คาสิโนออนไลน์สด
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
สล็อต
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต pg ซื้อฟรีสปิน
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
บาคาร่า
สล็อต เว็บตรงไม่ผ่านเอเย่นต์ไม่มีขั้นต่ำ
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
สล็อต
บาคาร่า
สล็อต
สล็อต
สล็อต
สล็อต
คาสิโน
pg
ทดลองเล่นสล็อต
sa gaming