An Open Letter to the News People
Stop it.
Stop trying to scare the living shit out of us. javascript:void(0);
Stop feeding us alarming, but misleading, information designed to scare the inattentive. For example, when you tell us that "planners prepare for global pandemic", that is technically true, but that is not remotely what we're facing with the swine flu situation -- as the article actually says. You know that most people don't read past the headline anyway.
The current swine flu situation highlights the worst truths about our joke of a media -- it's become so devoid of integrity across the board, so screwed regarding motives and methods, that it's a joke. There is no investigation, no wise guiding hand, not even the "if it bleeds it leads" sensibility -- just an endless barrage of parroted information. The goal is to get it out there first before anyone else, don't fact-check, don't understand or explain, don't THINK....
There is a swine flu problem. It's relatively limited. The appropriate authorities are taking the appropriate steps: warning travellers so that it's not spread unnecessarily, issuing health alerts so that first responders and medical care givers can keep an eye out, and preparing/stockpiling/staging flu medications in case things go wrong. That's it. That's what they SHOULD do.
But "US health system takes reasonable steps to prepare for minor outbreak" is just not that newsworthy.
Stop trying to scare the living shit out of us. javascript:void(0);
Stop feeding us alarming, but misleading, information designed to scare the inattentive. For example, when you tell us that "planners prepare for global pandemic", that is technically true, but that is not remotely what we're facing with the swine flu situation -- as the article actually says. You know that most people don't read past the headline anyway.
The current swine flu situation highlights the worst truths about our joke of a media -- it's become so devoid of integrity across the board, so screwed regarding motives and methods, that it's a joke. There is no investigation, no wise guiding hand, not even the "if it bleeds it leads" sensibility -- just an endless barrage of parroted information. The goal is to get it out there first before anyone else, don't fact-check, don't understand or explain, don't THINK....
There is a swine flu problem. It's relatively limited. The appropriate authorities are taking the appropriate steps: warning travellers so that it's not spread unnecessarily, issuing health alerts so that first responders and medical care givers can keep an eye out, and preparing/stockpiling/staging flu medications in case things go wrong. That's it. That's what they SHOULD do.
But "US health system takes reasonable steps to prepare for minor outbreak" is just not that newsworthy.