(CBS) In light of the media coverage of the H1N1 flu outbreak over the past week and a half, you could be forgiven for being slightly surprised you aren't dead yet.
Consider this series of questions asked by CNN's John Roberts last Monday, which were flagged by NPR: "Is this the killer virus that we've all been fearing for decades? Is it just a threat? Is this 1976, where we had a small, contained outbreak, or is this 1918, where 20 million people died worldwide?"
Scary stuff. In fairness to Roberts, he was just asking questions about how bad things could get - not asserting that they were definitely going to get there. But when the specter of a "killer virus" is raised - and when media outlets (including CBS News) pepper their aggressive coverage with words like "pandemic" and breathlessly report each new diagnosed case - it's reasonable to expect that many will fear the worst. - CBS News Story
How come no-one has come out and just said, "we made a mistake and this wasn't as bad as it was made out to be"? The media coverage and the actions of Local, State and Federal Government officials would have led you to believe the world was coming to an end.
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