According to reports, seven people from Wiltshire being tested for Swine Flu (aka: the end of the world as we know it).
It's great that the cases timed themselves just right the weekly newspapers. How irritating would it have been to have found out on Thursday that Wiltshire was about to be wiped out by this deadly diseases.
A Very Public Sociologist has a nice take on the media's latest outbreak of hysteria.
Meanwhile, I'm just about to got out and take my turn on the barricades. This is one Wiltshire village which won't get infected.
Update: The Daily Mash, as ever, has the news that matters.
Update II: Fleet Street Blues has an excellent primer for journalists on how to cover this story. Of course if, like this freelancer, you're trying to pitch ideas which don't involve people wearing face masks you know that newsdesks at the moment have a one track mind. Still, gives me a chance to finish my review of Slow Tech.
Update III: in defence of the media, by Charlie Beckett from POLIS.
Firstly, I think it is the media’s job to panic. Government would love to keep everything nice and calm. It doesn’t want to be rushed into expensive precautionary measures. Surely, it is journalism’s job to challenge the authorities to come clean about the dangers and to make them share their thinking and information with us.
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