October 24 was one of those days when everyone in the news business seemed to have been reading the very same obscure academic journal. “Discrimination May Affect Risk of High Blood Pressure in Blacks,” was the New York Times headline; “Study: Discrimination May Cause Hypertension in Blacks,” declared the Washington Post. Nor were print reporters the only ones scouring the American Journal of Public Health, where the blood-pressure study was published; even the 11 o’clock local news nationwide was up to speed that night on the latest issue of the American Public Health Association’s journal.

The reason for the avalanche of coverage is simple: A press release hyping the article was faxed around by the association’s publicrelations department, with an embargo that forbade any news about the article until the evening before October 24. For its efforts, the association was rewarded with news coverage that was as lavish as it was credulous. In their rush to report a juicy story about the ravages of racism, the journalists never noticed they were being had. In truth, the so-called study is such a jumbled mess of contradictory data that it couldn’t possibly be evidence of anything, let alone the contentious thesis that racism literally causes illness in black people.