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	Introduction   Monitoring Iraq: Brian Rotheray   Reporting first-hand: Kate Adie   Getting the facts in Colombia: Catalina Esparza   Checking contributors: Beatrice Murail   Statistics in India: Sanjeev Srivastava   Preventing mistakes in Iran: Jim Muir   Polls in the World Cup: Luis Restrepo   Running news agency reports   Using archive material   Advertising for contributors   Staging events and reconstructions		Care must be taken that expressions of opinion in websites are not translated into anything that could be taken either as an actual representation of public opinion as a whole, or as the BBC's opinion. Any summary of online voting should not be called a poll, nor should the results normally be expressed solely in percentage terms. Avoiding assumptions in opinion polls and voting – by Luis Restrepo, Producer, Spanish Americas section The 5th of July, 2000 is still fresh in my mind as the day when British newspapers were crammed with headlines announcing that the 2006 World Cup would be held in South Africa. I poured over the articles as I flew from London to Zurich to cover the ceremony for the BBC, in which the host country of the second largest sporting event after the Olympic Games would be announced. Putting polls into perspective Polls carried out by various companies suggested that South Africa held a majority among the members of the Executive Committee of FIFA and could count on the unconditional support of its president Joseph Blatter. When I arrived at the International Press Centre it was obvious that the smiling, boisterous South Africans were already celebrating. The Germans, on the other hand, were demonstrating their powerful footballing tradition through a series of advertising campaigns, where they emphasised their sporting infrastructure and the "logistical advantages" of being an European country. Taking nothing for granted In spite of the fact that the television, radio and newspaper opinion polls continued to reflect that South Africa would be hosting the tournament, I followed the BBC's editorial policy and took absolutely nothing for granted. And at 1406 GMT on 6 June 2000 - after a series of meetings behind closed doors - Blatter opened the envelope containing the final decision and announced, "And the winner is Â… Germany." The German delegation jumped for joy. Meanwhile, there were sighs of despair and incredulity among the South Africans. And among some colleagues too as they had to correct their despatches – they had been so sure the host country would be South Africa. I, on the other hand, began to inform our audience that Germany would be the World Cup hosts.

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