A trade group for liquor retailers put out a press release with an

alarming headline: “Millions of Kids Buy Internet Alcohol, Landmark

Survey Reveals.”

The announcement, from the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of

America, received widely media attention. On NBC’s Today Show, Lea 【M1】_________

Thompson said, “According to a new online survey, one in ten teenagers

have an underage friend who has ordered beer, wine or liquor over the 【M2】_________

Internet. More than a third think they can easily do it but nearly half 【M3】_________

think they won’t get caught. “ Several newspapers mentioned the study,

including USA Today and the Record of New Jersey. The news was even

covered by Australia’s Gold Coast Bulletin.

Are millions of kids really buying booze online? To arrive that 【M4】_________

shocking headline, the group used some question logic to pump up 【M5】_________

the results from a survey that was already tilted in favor of finding a 【M6】_________

large number of online buyers.

For starters, consider the source. The trade group that

commissioned the survey has long fought efforts to expand online sales of

alcohol; its members are local distributors that compete online liquor 【M7】_________

sellers. Some of the news coverage point out that conflict of interest, 【M8】_________

though reports didn’t delve more deeply on how the numbers were 【M9】_________

computed.

The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America hired Teenage

Research Unlimited, a research company, to design the study. Teenage

Research, in return, hired San Diego polling firm Luth Research to put 【M10】________

the questions to 1,001 people between the ages of 14 and 20 in an online

survey. Luth got people to participate in its surveys in part by

advertising them online and offering small cash awards—typically less

than $ 5 for short surveys.

【M9】