by Jeff Forbes

Several recent articles in the Washngton Post have raised some concern in my eyes.

On May 3, an inaccurate and irresponsible piece appeared in the Health section, titled "What to do if you get attacked by bees? First, run away." Unfortunately, this piece included dangerously misinformed advice on both Africanized bees and how to react to a stinging incident. It included no entomologist, beekeeper, local, or medical experts.

I submitted a comment trying to correct misinformation about the prevalence of Africanized bees and their behavior, but the damage was done.

An opinion piece from April 13, 2023 titled, "Backyard bees disfigure yards in ways we are only beginning to comprehend" included misinformation about impact on native pollinators (she had no evidence of her own, but sought out studies from very different environments), but most I think that author was trying to rationalize her failed first year of beekeeping and her decision not to try again the next year.

Voices from our community responded. On April 18, 2023, Marc Hoffmann wrote a contrasting opinion to first article titled, "Urban beekeeping is not driving bee decline."

Then on May 19, 2023, a Washington Post article titled "The unexpected downside of raising bees in your backyard." continued with premise that backyard beekeeping is injuring native bees based on references to scientific studies -- not one of which was done in the United States, let alone our region.

There have been positive articles about beekeeping over the years in the Washington Post, so maybe they are trying to be balanced. However, I think that if one reads the comments it is easy to see an anti-beekeeping undercurrent in the Post's commenting readers. I am concerned about what this may mean for the larger community.

My fear is that anti-beekeeping factions, having lost regulation through zoning, are trying to tie together fear of climate change and species loss to urban beekeeping in order to suppress beekeeping.

I do not believe that having more countering opinion pieces in the Washington Post will have a significant effect.
Social media has the attention of the younger members of our society and that may be the best place to have some engaging  education pieces.

I also do not know how best to approach this, but I think that MSBA and EAS should recognize this possible threat to beekeeping and try to address it in engaging video format. With EAS 2024 and MSBA so close to our nation's capitol, I think that we can make a significant impact.
Maybe there are fellow beekeepers who are experienced in public relations and relate fields that could provide guidance and support?
What do you think?

[Return to June 2023 BeeLine newsletter]