# Out rageous news reporting hurts beekeepers



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Read this story. Then send a letter to the station letting them know they are doing a disservice to beekeepers and instilling fear in their viewing public.

http://www.wtov9.com/news/4846041/detail.html


My letter to them:::
I am responding to this story a friend sent to me.
I am a bee keeper and find the story very unreasonable reporting, failing to state facts and using scare tactics to sell stories.
(1. Yellow Jackets are Wasp not bees.
(2. Bees do not live in the ground.
(3. Most all bees are gentile with the exception of the African strain which are nowhere in the us except the south western portion.

As a beekeeper stories like yours cause me many problems. 
(1. Finding out yards to place hives is harder because of the fear your stories instill in people.
(2. getting young people interested becomes harder do to parents fearing for their child and the fear instilled in the children do to your stories. 


I fully intend to pass your story along to as many beekeepers as I can so hopefully you will receive more mail about this lack of facts in the story.
Al


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## Kazahleenah (Nov 3, 2004)

Here's my letter:

This "news" story shows a complete lack of research on your news staff. Yellowjackets are NOT bees, they are wasps. Bees, are typically mild natured and do NOT live in the ground. I shudder to think of the problems stories like this one cause those who attempt to raise real bees so people like you can have honey. Then again, keep the stories comming, I'm sure you all won't mind paying $25.00 a pound for honey when beekeepers can no longer keep their bees because the media has instilled so much fear into the population. A little research goes a LONG way...


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

alleyyooper said:


> (2. Bees do not live in the ground.
> 
> Al


I agree with all you say, Al. 
Just to clarify, don't bumblebees live in the ground? Not that it's your normal strain of honeybee, but technically it is a bee, right?


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## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

Shrug, they said it was yellowjackets. No big deal. Several types of bees do in fact live in the ground.


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## jessepona (Sep 7, 2005)

Wow, thats some pretty bad reporting. It is completely inaccurate to call yellow jackets "bees". I hope they print a correction!


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## james dilley (Mar 21, 2004)

Theres another side to inacurate reporting also. Most feral swarms are not A H B swarms but regular E H B's but the media hype has folks scared.


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## SouthWesteader (Jul 21, 2005)

Looks to me like they changed it. I couldn't find any reference to bees in it. Guess your letters did some good! :cowboy:


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Appears they got a bit defencive on this one. Still refused to take responceabilty for the Yellow Jackets being called bees.

Letter I recieved from them. Unsigned of course.
Dear Al,

The story below is from last month and had been corrected as far as âyellowjackets or beesâ are concerned. We rely on public officials for information, and in this case the local police department gave us the information. Aside from that, there are clearly no scare tactics in this article. Facts are facts, the woman did get stung and she did, unfortunately die.::::::

 I personally feel they think they have did nothing to cause harm or spread fear to anybody. They state facts are facts if that is the case then why was the word bees even used when Yellow Jackets would have said it all.


Yes some bumble bees may nest in the ground in some areas. Here they are mostly found inside eves of out buildings and holes in hollow trees. I have even seen pictures of honey bees building comb in tree branches and from rafters in barns all in the open. 
 Al


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## Kazahleenah (Nov 3, 2004)

Dear ***,
Thank you for you message regarding our story. I'm forwarding this
message to our news department for discussion. I appreciate your
comments.



Sincerely,



Tim McCoy

General Manager, WTOv9


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## Timber (Jun 15, 2003)

Good for you'ems. A little education doesn't hurt, but passing it to the news dept. tells me with no hype no viewer sales. Maybe a local bee club takes a camera crew on some problems that beekeepers are fighting (mites, moths .....local fears) and the fallout will be higher prices, less local and more imported Fareast honey. 

A little side track from this thread. As I'm being called for bee removal which turns out to be yellow jacket's burrows many old folks saying this is going to be a cold winter. More frequent nest and deeper burrows.
I'm addressing this as we beekeepers in the northern parts should take heed? 

Timber


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