MicrobeWorld

I definitely believe that the traditional media dropped the ball on this big time! The new media is a problem too but to me the traditional media is worse because it is supposed to be credible. While many people are misinformed by new media there is also some knowledge that the internet does contain misinformation. With traditional media they have a reputation of being a factual source of information and I believe more people trust what they see or read from that source. More and more traditional media is failing, they are biased, they sensationalize stories to get ratings, and sometimes they blatantly lie (re: memo about former President Bush's national guard service). And they wonder why they are failing? When the only thing you have over the new media is credibility and you lose that credibility you have nothing. I've made another comment on this site expressing concern over the crying wolf scenario. With each outbreak sensationalized and then turning out to not be the end of the world as we know it as the media spun it people get more and more desensitized. Influenza can be a very dangerous virus and we very well could see another exceptionally deadly strain form like the one in 1918. With things as they are we could see a much higher number of deaths because many people are not educated on how to protect themselves and may not realize the severity of the situation in time to get that education because they did not believe the media's crying wolf. Panic and fear may be great for ratings but they cause more harm than good in the real world.