News consumers, the news and headlines (YES THE OMG moments, we are all gonna die moments)

[nadinbrzezinski]

Well first some background

I have been watching this developing for the last oh since the begining

MSNBC has been playing on the background so I have been able to see how ONE media outlet covers this

I actually turned to my local news yesterday and oh my fucking god...

That said, when I read stories about this on FOREIGN press they are more detailed, and in depth than anything I have seen in OUR press, reading yahoo and others. You know things like the boring details as to how the first twenty samples were sent to canada and then to the States, and how you classify probably and definite cases.

Of course I have made the observation over the years that every year when I go to visit parents I actually pick up the paper and read it. It is not the same paper it was at one time (They changed owners among other things) but even though it is simpler and not as thick, it is worlds better than my local news rag that I don't bother with any longer

So here is the problem...

Yesterday the WHO rep DID say Humanity is at risk. That is the headline in her statement. This was the HEADLINE abroad. BUT... this headline, outside of her statement when MSNBC ran it, did NOT make it to MSNBC or my lord, local news bunnies. We complaint the news have been simplified, well folks, look in the mirror, this is one reason. A headline coming from a statement is nixed by news editors for two news organizations. Is it because WE cannot handle it? Are we children? Are they truly afraid that statement (which is what she said) will scare us shitless?

Well to me this speaks volumes about the United States... and our level of sophistication. Of course it is also another signal of how the Empire is falling apart, and how insular we are becoming

Now should she have used that statement? YES, it is a matter of fact. Should the press in the United States risk the many calls of IRRESPONSIBLE journalism? YES

In fact it is time the US media leave the fancy graphics to keep your attention for five seconds, and the bumper sticker journalism and go back to in-depth reporting. Hell, CNN-I is a good example of where they should go.

I saw it in mexico in stark contrast, when CNNI had in depth stories of obama's visit, while CNN was doing bimbo stories

So yes, I disagree that using a quote from a public health official in a headline is bad journalism... but I will pose that the US news consuming public is immature and loves to be treated like children. The US press is partly responsible for that, but so are we...

Now don my asbestos since I know this kind of criticism never, evah, goes well around here.

[Barack_America]

1. Of course humanity is at risk of contracting H1N1...

But to assume (as you seem to be doing in your various posts) that this virus will be catastrophic is quite a leap.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. This is a criticism of those who think using that headline, see observer

see El Universal, See Excelsior, is irresponsible,

See that is what the WHO spokeswoman said YESTERDAY during her presser

Now if you think mostly POSTING NEWS STORIES is fanning a panic, you just prove the point of the OP

And why the US press keeps treating US news consumers like children

You do not tell children the facts of the world... you shelter them

[Barack_America]

5. Posting multiple news stories with the same breathless, "what if?" suggestion is fanning a panic.

Yes, I believe it is.

Where is your evidence that this strain of flu is the highly virulent killer that you seem to be hoping it is? I have no doubt that it will spread. What I haven't seen much evidence of yet is its ability to kill.

You seem to be clinging to this "threat to humanity" statement with a macabre hope.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Posting news stories is not fanning a panic

I have kept my commentary not on News stories OP

Try to learn to read

And I am saying that the news media IN THE US has to stop treating you and me like children

If you enjoy being treated like a child, then fine by me

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. All the posts with

the Chicken Little tone make me think some people are actually HOPING this is The Big One.

Of course, all of humanity is at risk of death, too. Right. I mean, eventually?

Everyone has an opinion. I guess that's about it....................

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. Criticism?

I didn't see any criticism. Just a rant expressing your impatience with how the US media is covering the flu story. You're certainly entitled to your opinion, just as others are entitled to theirs.

Humanity at risk? Well, one reported death in the US so far - a 23-month-old child from Mexico, who'd been visiting in the US hardly qualifies as "humanity at risk." Some deaths centered in Mexico City, as I recall, but nothing of any great significance in terms of statistical data.

And even the people who have gotten sick haven't, with a rare exception or two, have not required hospitalization.

I'd prefer the news editors not go batshit and publish every alarmist utterance until there is actually something to back it up.

But, that's just me. I'm sane..................................

[DevonRex]

7. I have yet to see this "panic" people keep talking about.

I'm not panicking and neither is anybody else. We just need to know the facts so we can take the proper precautions.

I have an immune deficiency, so this is very important to me, especially since I have an upcoming trip.

[nadinbrzezinski]

I know but the press in the US didn't use that headline

based on the statement from a WHO official... that I found curious

Now some people round these parts confuse press coverage with panic

It is their own fears speaking truly

Me, I have diabetes, so getting the flu (or any other disease) has its own joys.

Hell, when I fell and banged my head hard, my sugars were "out of whack" though not seriously for a couple of days

A bad cold does wonders... NOT

[DevonRex]

9. Yep. I wonder why they didn't use that, too. It's as if they think we need

to be coddled, when all we need are the facts.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. I know but the press in the US didn't use that headline

based on the statement from a WHO official... that I found curious

Now some people round these parts confuse press coverage with panic

It is their own fears speaking truly

Me, I have diabetes, so getting the flu (or any other disease) has its own joys.

Hell, when I fell and banged my head hard, my sugars were "out of whack" though not seriously for a couple of days

A bad cold does wonders... NOT

[Ozymanithrax]

10. It is not what the public wants, but what the media gives us.

News is not news, which would be defined as;
"information about recent and important events"
News is infotainment.
It must achieve ratings that guarantee
Add revenue while drawing a crowd of mindless gawkers.

It must combine factual information, titillation, and the
audiences preconceived notions, as seen by the news speakers.
It must appeal to a precise demographic that wants
what those adds sell.

News is the product of a whorehouse and the orgasm
we pay for is the products that we must have
pimped by the news. Any information we get from news,
is a byproduct, just a a fart is a byproduct of Boston Baked Beans.

Because Americans have woken up to this fact, News Papers are entering extinction.
Televised media will be next.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Yeah but the constant charge is that the press wants a panic

and are fanning it

The fact they didn't use that headlines is an indictment against that charge

but more proof that they are codling us like kids

And the fact that some folks say using that headline is irresponsible tells me people like to be protected from the big bad real world

[Ozymanithrax]

13. It is not just to coddle.

The news media are Capitalist organizations.
They must profit or fail.
It just isn't good for their bottom line,
if the news isan't about a naked blond.
Which makes the news bland.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Yeah but the tinfoil hatters tell us all the time that they want a panic

so what better panic inducing headline than....

All humanity is at risk... WHO

At least that was the claim

I know it is for profits... but the they want to panic us school of thought is denied by this ready made headline that alas was not used

So yes, blondes produce eyes on screen, but also coodle the watcher and protect him or her in this pink glasses what color is the sky in your world place they like us to inhabit

The same one that we do not share with others

DAMN BUGS they are denying that idea!

Or was it savage swill? Oh never mind that gets me into the fringe radio which is even worst about the bimbo phenomena, though I am sure Mr. Wiener used that crap

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Kick