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Everywhere I go lately, people share their opinion with me that we in the media are hyping swine flu too much. My only question in response is, "How much information is the right amount? Should we talk about it only until you hear about it and then we're done? How do we know when you've heard? What if you get on a plane and the flight attendants are wearing masks and you think, 'I didn't hear anything about this on KSL.'"
This is the hard thing to balance. I mean - obviously you don't say things like "Millions will die from epidemic!!!!" when that's not the case. That's a given. But what about the rest? What about talking about it? What about reporting what the WHO reports? What about reporting when a school closes? Is that contributing to the hysteria or is that something you expect from us? And if we don't tell you, then what? Where do you learn that your children's school is closed or what people around the world are saying?
I'm trying to understand it myself - how much is enough reporting on a topic of interest when many people think it's all hype? If you've got the answer, let me know.
