That's my point exactly, the best and brightest are not a representative sample... many times they aren't the best and brightest anyway.:)

I agree, none of those reports are representative.

Statistical significance, its relation to sampling methods (sample sizes included) and statistical margins of error are concepts that most people don't understand, according to my completely unscientifical and unrepresentative polling and observation of people I know.
If I may be so bold... better teaching of Statistics in school is more important than Geography!