As a journalist, I'm probably the last person who should be advising: 'Don't believe all you read in the press', but this isn't the first occasion I've had to do so. This time it's regarding what I believe to be misleading headlines and standfirsts - and bearing in mind that often, busy readers will only read the headline or that and the standfirst, it's the most important bit. 

Shortly after John Austen & I started broadcasting Cleanzine more than 20 years ago I was approached by the BBC to star as 'Mrs Clean' for a series about cleaning and hygiene, alongside 'The Professor', (Professor Hugh Pennington) and 'Mr Mean', (famed movie trailer/voiceover artist Redd Pepper). What got me the gig was a lavish Dr David Bellamy-style imitation of the action of flushing an open toilet followed by the whoosh of water droplets exploding from the toilet bowl and flying onto all surfaces of the cubicle/bathroom, along with a graphic description of the faecal matter these droplets might contain and the harm the stuff could do to not only the occupant but also those entering later on, with the contaminated droplets being displaced from whichever surface they'd settled on and blown into the environment, (and lungs!) thanks to the opening and closing of the door or a window. Rentokil Initial had sent me a video showing the sequence in action, and it had made such an impression that I adapted it into human form and shared it with others, over the years, in discussions on whether the lid should be open or closed before flushing.

I'd prepared a piece that didn't find space in last week's issue, on a new study which I understand to say that while closing the lid will still trap the larger bacterial pathogens and prevent them from flying several feet away, smaller viral pathogens are pushed out around the immediate vicinity of the toilet. The conclusion was that proper cleaning has to be carried out whatever position the lid's been in, (see more below). Mainstream media did find space to report on the study though and several friends who'd witnessed my depiction of what happens when we flush, sent links to these articles. It was clear that the headlines, along with the reporting in several cases, were misleading, with most reading along the lines of: "It actually makes no difference whether the lid is up or down".

Am I being pernickety? In this particular case, probably a little. However, what it demonstrates is that a careless journalist, or one perhaps pushing an agenda, can easily lead readers to believe something that isn't quite true. And of course when it comes to cleaning and hygiene, getting it right is crucially important, isn't it?