The perils of cut ‘n’ paste journalism

As I noted yesterday this is the headline the Telegraph gave its one-sided report about Javed Khan’s ‘independent’ tobacco control review:

Legal smoking age could rise to 21 after ‘radical’ review

According to Tony Diver (Whitehall correspondent) and Lizzie Roberts (health correspondent):

The legal age for smoking could be increased to 21 under plans drawn up by order of Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, amid hopes that less than five per cent of Britons will smoke by 2030.

Both this and the headline are wrong.

There is and never has been a legal age for smoking and unless Javed Khan has taken leave of his senses he won’t be recommending one now.

Imagine all those fixed penalty notices and/or prosecutions clogging up the courts, not to mention the time, money and wasteful energy spent enforcing such a law.

What Khan is expected to propose is raising the age of sale from 18 to 21. (Apparently he considered 25 but that would be even more stupid and illiberal.)

To be clear a legal age of sale is very different to a legal smoking age but the media appears indifferent to accurate or balanced reporting.

After the Telegraph report appeared I sent a very polite email to the journalists concerned thinking they might want to amend their online headline and story which still worked if they simply changed it to:

Tobacco: legal age of sale could rise to 21 after ‘radical’ review

I also requested an opportunity to respond. Did I get a response? Of course not, and I was merely trying to be helpful!

Meanwhile, picking up on the Telegraph report, the same story with a virtually identical headline appeared on the following websites:

• Legal smoking age in England could be raised to 21 – report (Guardian/Observer)
• Legal smoking age in UK could rise to 21 after ‘radical’ review (Independent)
• Legal smoking age could rise to 21 under Sajid Javid's 'radical' plans to make just five per cent of Britons smokers by 2030 (MailOnline)

Talk about cut ‘n’ paste journalism - and every headline is wrong!

A more accurate report appears on the Birmingham Live website where the headline reads ‘Millions set to be affected by major smoking law change in 'radical' plan’:

A major change is set to be introduced to smoking laws in a "radical" plan to promote e-cigarettes and vaping. Brits are set to be encouraged to quit smoking as it's reported that the Health Secretary awaits on a report on the tobacco industry.

An independent review - commissioned by Sajid Javid - is expected to be published in the next few weeks. The report is set to suggest that the legal age to buy cigarettes should be increased to 21 in Britain.

Congratulations then to Laura Williams, TV and showbiz reporter, for getting right what her arguably more illustrious colleagues in the national press failed to do - check the facts.

PS. I shall be discussing the age of sale proposal on BBC Radio Essex later this morning.

Below: These headlines are all factually wrong