I agree totally. It is important to relay information but right now most news outlets are going nuts over this. Even our local 11PM newscast last night was all about this. They hardly covered any other local news at all.
That's disgraceful and irresponsible. Go to the Business of Radio page and check the threads on swine flu. They offer an interesting progression from initial posts, and the initial posts, particularly in on thread, was both moronic and ignorant.
Cynically, maybe we ought to be asking if news directors and station management think overdoing the coverage and hyperventilating about the coverage gets better ratings. Viral outbreaks can always pose a serious situation yet almost always do not. But media covers it as if it always does. Is that better for ratings? I would think credibility and reliability make for better ratings. At least I would hope so.
