Whenever someone asked what I did for a living, I never said I’m in “the media.”
“I’m a local newspaperman,” I told them. “There’s a big difference.”
Fact is, most local newspaper people of my long acquaintance are idealists who really do want to change the world by making a positive difference. It sure isn’t for the money.
I can’t always figure our why our “media” colleagues are in the business, unless they get a big kick out of scaring the bejeezus out of us on a regular basis.
And the frenzy that every television network and local news station has been whipping us into for the last week or so ought to finally make us say, “Enough is enough.”
I’m talking, of course, about the panic “the media” has been spreading about the potential “pandemic” of death and destruction that might be caused by swine flu, or the disease they’ve started calling H1N1 out of fear that calling it swine flu will unfairly malign pigs and hurt the pork industry.
As of this writing, one person has died of this disease in the U.S., and there may well be more. But current indications are that the spread of the virus has slowed in Mexico, and health officials in the U.S. are speculating that this might not be as bad as everyone feared.
Sure, it’s awful when we lose a life to disease, especially a child. But here are some things to consider as you listen to yet another barrage of swine flu fear mongering on tonight’s newscast.
Each year, regular, old, garden-variety influenza kills 36,000 people in the United States, and between 250,000 and 500,000 worldwide. Since January alone, according to CNN, the regular, old flu has resulted in 13,000 deaths from flu complications in America. That’s about 800 deaths every week.
Comparatively, so far at least, that makes common, seasonal influenza the Attilla the Hun of flu viruses, and this H1N1 nothing but a wanna-be pretender.
But you don’t hear Brian Williams leading his newscast every Friday night with the information that another 800 Americans have died in the last week from the flu. That’s because you apparently can’t get as many viewers talking about an illness that kills thousands monthly as you can talking about an illness that might kill thousands.
I don’t know if it’s a crime to yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater, but most of us can agree that it ought to be. And that’s what our national media does on a nearly daily basis.
Remember the bird flu panic, when “the media” told us nightly that 150 million people could die from complications? Well, about 200 people have died worldwide from bird flu, so somebody got something wrong, and the media ran with it.
Remember SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), which was going to wipe out the world? SARS wound up killing fewer than 1,000 people, and while it hasn’t been eradicated, it has been effectively contained.
Remember the Y2K scare, which was going to wipe out all our computers and damage our society to the point that we’d all be living in caves again? Remember “the media” telling us we ought to stock up on food and water so we wouldn’t starve once our food distribution systems broke down? In that scare, I actually heard one “expert” claiming on television that everyone ought to stock up on .22-caliber ammunition, because that would be the new currency after technology collapsed on Jan. 1, 2000. And what really happened? Doomsday came and went with nary a hiccup; that’s what happened. Our computers kept running and nothing changed — except for the fact that millions of Americans were stuck with cases of Spam, baked beans, bottled water and Dinty Moore Beef Stew in their garages.
Y2Stupid, it should have been called, and the greatest danger may yet turn out to be all that stockpiled food, should anyone show the poor sense to eat it so long past its sell-by date.
I’m sure Brian Williams will report it, if it happens.
We can all agree it’s “the media’s” job to report on potential problems and to give us a heads-up if there’s something we ought to keep an eye on. But isn’t it time they quit trying to scare the pants off us every night just to improve their ratings? Isn’t it time someone tried to put these potential “pandemics” in perspective before sending us once more to the bunkers? I don’t think we can count on “the media” to do that, and pretty soon they’ll figure out there’s no more scare potential in swine flu and be off to the next big threat.
So let’s teach ’em a lesson. Let’s quit watching network television and go back to getting our news from local newspapermen and -women. Their industry is in kind of a pickle these days, and they could use the extra eyeballs on their product.
And they won’t try to scare you to death every time you open the paper, either. Unless, of course, there’s a real reason to be scared.
• • •
I get a lot of response to this column, and two columns in April were no exception.
Here’s what one reader said about my recent proposal to tax sex:
“Men have been paying for it forever. Look what it cost Adam. He got evicted. Will women now have to pay under your plan? If so, I am for it.”
Another reader said that while a sex tax would relieve the nation’s financial deficit, it might have unintended consequences.
“How would a husband or wife explain his or her higher tax bracket? Could the tax lead to a government bailout program for people who have overextended themselves through insurance paid Viagra prescriptions? I’m sure you are aware of all possible obstacles, but don’t give up on your idea, just work out the kinks.”
Sometimes, I think my readers ought to be writing this column instead of me.
And finally, several readers pointed out that in a recent column where I waxed rhapsodic about a Puerto Rico vacation, I failed to name the hotel we stayed at. I did that on purpose. This isn’t a travel column, and I didn’t want to be accused of pandering. If you’d like to know the name of the wonderful hotel, just drop me a note, and I’ll send it by email.
Gregory Bean is the former executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers. You can reach him at gbean@gmnews.com.