It is the job of mass media to capture eye-balls. Newspapers must sell paper, TV news must keep people tuned in to buy sponsor's products and web based news need visitors to click on pop-up ads. When one crisis flames out, then teh media has to find something new to excite the masses & generate revenue.
With the finacial meltdown now becoming old news, with the reports on executive pay becoming too disgusting to look at and teh certified death of Pontiac, the media needed a shot in the arm to keep eyeballs. And man did they get one from the World Health Organization.
The WHO sank their teeth into H1N1 Swine Flue Virus and held on like a puppy does to its toy. Spreading as much FUD as they could they kept themselves in the lime light and shoveled bucketloads of coal into the furnace that runs the mass media.
PANDEMIC!!!!!
Screamed the headlines. Thousands to die! World wide death toll expected to climb!
As of today, the worldwide case load just topped 1,000 confirmed cases with 27 confirmed fatalities. Again - that's worldwide. Compare that to 37,000 deaths from seasonal flu in the U.S. alone. This is hardly the image that the word "pandemic" conjures up recalling the mass graves of the Black Plague or the stacks of corpses from the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreaks.
Yet - the media still tries to capture as many eyeballs as they can by spreading as much FUD as they possibly can as fast as they can. Last night, on NBC news, some brave soul finally commented that this outbreak was far, far less leathal than the "normal" flu or even the common cold. The story was buried faster than a croaked goldfish.
Yesterday saw public interest start to falter. H1N1 was not at the top of all the papers and it didn't even headline the 7:00 News. Of course, the WHO and the media are not ready to give up the spot light, not yet. Now they warn us of the second coming - which could kill thousands.
Lemme run out right now & buy a gross of face masks.
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