Today is World No Tobacco Day, believe it or not.
Despite a major promotional push tobacco control lobbyists in the UK have failed to generate any significant interest in the event or its theme (raising taxes on tobacco).
For example, a poll of 12,000 adults commissioned by ASH to test public opinion on raising the price of cigarettes has been ignored, so far as I can tell, by every national newspaper and broadcaster.
Only in Scotland has it received any coverage. Several newspapers mentioned it and BBC News (Scotland) published this report, Poll suggests half of Scots support steep tobacco price rises.
It includes a quote from Forest but only after I sent the BBC this email this morning:
Your report of an ASH poll released to coincide with World No Smoking Day fails to include a single opposing comment, although we sent you our response yesterday afternoon.
Can you please respond to this email as soon as possible and explain why you have effectively copied an ASH press release and made no attempt to include a balancing comment?
I followed this up with a phone call to the national news desk and they transferred me to the news desk in Scotland.
To be fair they updated the report within minutes but I really shouldn't have to chase the BBC to point out the one-sided nature of the original story.
Sadly, as regular readers know, it's something Forest has to do quite often.
PS. On Wednesday the Northern Echo published this report, North-East public 'distrustful' of tobacco industry.
Again, it's based on an ASH/YouGov poll, possibly the same one that asked questions about raising taxes.
I've not seen any other reports about this aspect of the poll. In fact, I've not even seen the poll.
I've looked for it, without success, on the ASH, ASH Scotland and YouGov websites.
Why the secrecy?
Update: After much searching I have found an article about World No Tobacco Day in the national press. Surprise, surprise, it's in the Guardian.
See: World No Tobacco Day: could UK cities ever be completely smoke free?