Pandemics:

With complete acknowledgment of the 4th estate's responsibility to cover disease outbreaks, (like the recent swine flu) SP still believes that the press coverage regarding this recent issue has been self indulgent (bordering on hysterical fear mongering), and has been frankly totally absurd.

What happened to the great unflappable news-people like an Edward R. Murrow or a David Brinkley? When did the two bit ideologues and Chicken Littles of the world invade and overtake our newsrooms?

Of course our media has a responsibility to the citizenry to report on the swine flu issue and to provide information to the public to assist in our decision making process about what to do to protect ourselves and our loved ones. But sensationalism and the overexposure of the 24 hours news cycle has not produced the who, what, when, where, why, and how analysis or cogent level headed information dissemination that would be necessary for safeguarding citizen safety.

Sixty cases of swine flu as an infectious disease imported from our citizens tourist-ing in Mexico is a reasonable justification for closing the Mexico border and staunching immigration into the US? It's a contrived terrorist attack, a biological premeditated Al Qaeda or drug cartel action against US citizens? Are you people at FOX News insane!? To what journalistic standard does that type of bigotry and fear mongering uphold.. the standard from The Onion? It certainly doesn't resemble any professional news ethics that are taught in any major university in this country. Why do we allow ourselves to listen to this garbage?

And where is the balanced reporting, across all agencies, about the other diseases and plagues, and afflictions pressing on our human family? Where is the rampant hyper over exposure of these facts:

1) In the US, over 14,000 people died in 2007 of complications from their contracting the HIV virus, and that virus progressing into AIDS;

2) In the US, over 37,000 people were diagnosed with HIV in 2006;

3) In the US, over 565,000 people died because of cancer, or complications from cancer in 2008;

4) 22 million people have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa, 1.9 million last year alone;

5) 1.2 million people died of HIV/AIDS related illnesses last year in Sub Saharan Africa alone;

6) there are 12 million orphans or displaced children due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Sub Saharan Africa;

The list could go on and on....

We have a responsibility to be informed, aware and active. We also have an obligation to act for the betterment of our fellow human beings, and our world generally. If the media took a more balanced portion of its energy and attention and devoted it towards raising awareness about the most severe problems instead of the flavor of the week, maybe we would have a more accurate perspective of our challenges from which to focus on.

Based on the hysteria surrounding swine flu, a little of that energy could go a long way towards solving our real problems. In that process, maybe, just maybe, we could have a true lasting, positive impact on our world, as a leader and flag ship society should. Now, instead, we look like xenophobic, hysterical, half witted idiots. Unfortunately, our media helps us broadcast that stupidity boldly to the rest of the world.