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A Midsummer Harvest of Bogus Trend StoriesDrivel from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe.

By Jack ShaferPosted Tuesday, July 22, 2008, at 4:42 PM ET

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Previously, Jack Shafer railed against on bogus trend stories about Ivy League women, teen hookers, teens shopping at the mall, obese teens, and online sales losing "steam."

Today's New York Times credits the high price of travel with the growth of video conferencing in "As Travel Costs Rise, More Meetings Go Virtual." The only problem with the story is a convincing discussion of an increase in video conferencing. It reports that the technology company Hewlett-Packard, which sells "telepresence" technology, claims a 25 percent decline in air travel among H.P. offices that have its telepresence rooms, but is it any surprise that an increased number of H.P. employees might be using the company's own technology to take virtual meetings?

Pricey gas has allegedly shoved Washington-area penny pinchers onto motorcycles, according to the June 24 Washington Post ("Commuters Opt for Frugal Lane"). Motorcycles are cheaper than cars and get better mileage, the paper discovers, and motorcycle training schools are recording soaring enrollments.

A third of the way into the story, the Post reports that the state of Maryland has recorded an 8 percent increase in motorcycle registrations this year, and Virginia a 3.5 percent increase. Yet the story also reports that sales of new bikes nationwide fell 11 percent in the first quarter of 2008. How can registrations be rising if the influx of new bikes is falling? The story theorizes about "people dusting off machines that sat idle for years or those looking to save cash by opting for a used bike." But could that many mothballed motorcycles really be returning to service?

The problem with most bogus trend stories is that they fail to look at long-term data—or any hard data at all. The U.S. Department of Transportation tracks the number of registered motorcycles: There were 5 million bikes registered to individuals and companies in 2002, 5.3 million in 2003, 5.7 million in 2004, 6.2 million in 2005, and 6.6 million in 2006, the last year for which I could find data. So even before the gas "crisis," national motorcycle registrations were growing between 6 percent and 8.8 percent annually.

The Post's motorcycle piece is thin, thin gruel, even for a trend story. But editors have huge appetites for such stories. I fully expect the paper to publish in the coming months a story about the growing trend of college students saving money by motorcycling to their online classes.

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Thanks to bogus trend spotters Kenneth D. Ralff, Mark Bulger, and Emily Anthes for their sharp eyes. If you've seen a bogus trend story, drop me a line at . (E-mail may be quoted by name in "The Fray," Slate's readers' forum, in a future article, or elsewhere unless the writer stipulates otherwise. Permanent disclosure: Slate is owned by the Washington Post Co.)

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