The Guardian’s Polly Toynbee tweet Sunday February 5th

Vote here at the BMJ site on whether the NHS and Social Care Bill should be withdrawnbmj.com

— Polly Toynbee (@pollytoynbee) February 5, 2012

Press Association report 8 February 2012 02:54

“..More than 90% of readers of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) believe the Government’s health reforms should be scrapped, according to a poll.

Of 2,947 votes cast on bmj.com over the last week, 2,706 said the reforms should go while 241 said they should stay. It comes as editorials published online in the BMJ express concerns about the Health and Social Care Bill..”

Guardian front page report Wednesday February 8th

“..More than 90% of those who voted in a British Medical Journal poll believed the planned health reforms should be scrapped. Of 2,947 votes cast on bmj.com over the last week, 2,706 said the reforms should be dropped while 241 said they should stay..”

This make me so angry because open access surveys like this should not be presented as though they were representative of anything. Professional journalists should know this.

Hat tips to Mark Pack and Anthony Wells for highlighting this.

Mike Smithson @MikeSmithsonOGH