Shoddy Journalism

Here’s a story that’s sure to be blasted all over the internet, giving comfort to couch potatoes everywhere.

Millions wasting their time trying to get fit, says study

The article goes on for paragraph after paragraph about how exercise will “will do little to ward off conditions like heart disease and diabetes”.

The only problem is, the study actually found this:

By the end of the 20, 12 and six-week programmes the majority (80%!!) of people had shown a measurable improvement in how much oxygen their body consumes during exercise, a key indicator of aerobic fitness.

But saying what’s obvious, that most people do benefit from exercise, doesn’t sell newspapers, or drive traffic to websites.

When the media deliberately misuses data for the purpose creating attentioin grabbing headlines, is there any wonder that the obesity drug market will grow in the U.S. from $222 million in 2006 to nearly $2 billion by 2016?

[Via http://timgier.com]