I hate to say, 'I told you so.'
If you're like me, you've noticed a clear uptick in the amount of news coverage devoted to swine flu in the last couple days.
To wit, these headlines ripped from The Drudge Report (H/T): "Airlines will ban swine flu suspects." "Doctors' notes required." "Drug companies to reap swine flu billions..."
For those late arrivers, we last heard of the swine flu in early June, when the media yawned to us that the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic. I said then that the decidedly reserved tone of the coverage of the pandemic announcement was in stark contrast to the breathless hysteria we saw when a few dozen were killed from the illness in May. Moreover, I explained why the declaration was by far a bigger story more deserving of an urgent tone. I also predicted a return to mania in July.
My hypothesis rested on the fact that television (and increasingly, print) news is designed these days to evoke, not inform. And at no time on the calendar is this more apparent than in a ratings month such as May and July. Admittedly, the above linked stories are obviously from print sources. But if the television networks have not already followed suit, they will. (Especially with that juicy drug company story. Nothing demagogues like more than a money-making corporation.) Television is notorious for following the lead of its print counterpart as part of their strange, devolving symbiosis. Rest assured, they'll catch on to the terror of the day.
(And speaking of...)
You feel me?
AF
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