The last couple of times I have gone to MSNBC for their updates I noticed that I can no longer hit the health section and then get to another page that has a Bird Flu headline and when you hit that you get all of the recent bird flu information (a whole page). This was active for months and now when we really need it, its gone. Britney, Madonna, Tom Crusie and , heaven help us, John Mark Karr are plastered all over EVERY bit of news. I am in “high gear” and it seems the rest of the world is in a different place. Am I crazy? are we crazy? WHAT IS GOING ON???
seacoast – at 12:16, Don’t worry, I have been questioning my sanity as well. Not quite sure what the tea leaves are saying right now.
No News is Good News… so they say
Hey we have to know what Mark Karr has to eat and what Tom Cruise is up to
It’s about advertising revenue.
Guess I’m showin’ my age, but why any of that (entertainment/celebrity) crap is of interest to anyone is beyond me. I think the future looks bleak (in many ways) when so many of our citizenry can’t seem to focus on anything more important than that. (mini-rant over) :)
seacoast - I also wish I knew what was going on. There seems to be this odd disconnect and I’m tending to prep a little less intensely right now. Lots of numbers out of Indo this month, but too many unanswered questions and not nearly enough firm and accurate results.
If you’re interested, FoxNews.com still has their bird flu page up.
It is odd that the national TV news that I watch (CNN and MSNBC) has little or nothing about what is happening in Indonesia.
This may be cynical, but I think the MSM would be all over it if there were some BIG numbers (i.e. deaths) to report. In other words, I don’t think it’s “sensational” enough to interest them right now. Example: no lack of coverage of the tsunami, Katrina, etc…
News programs are revenue driven just like entertainment shows these days. Low ratings means they have to change what they report about to gather in more viewers to satisfy and/or attract advertisers. The Jonbenet creep and Natalie Holloway seem to fill that bill. If there were a lot about bird flu on the news, most people would switch channels out of fear or ignorance, look for new entertaining gossip about the latest Hollywood Hybrid couple to distract themselves, and ratings would go down, and hence no more bird flu segments.
What would they report in Indonesia right now? Beyond the first 3 positive cases in Garut a couple weeks ago, and a few mysterious deaths, there have only been ‘suspected’ cases, and all the results that have been coming back recently have been negative. Until there are a few more verified positive cases or verified deaths in Indonesia, or anywhere else for that matter, or BF in birds on new European, Oz, or American soil, they see nothing to report.
And not many really want to hear about it anyway.
Maybe the Bush administration told them to cool it, they’re scaring people.
Only half joking.
I cancelled my Newsweek subscription last week (after many years of subscribing). Last straw was 3-page report written by former Bush adviser and speechwriter Michael Gerson. Personally, I am outraged at such propaganda masquerading as news and analysis. I am not saying this to stir up political controversy, only to point out that the Bush administration wields enormous influence on this nation’s “news” reporting.
mosaic at 17:21 - Right you are.
Every once in a while I check in on a place called www.rawstory.com and it has a selection of a few original pieces and then links to a multitude of national and international newspapers.
In my opinion, they offer an alternative; however, they sometimes offer some stories so alternativly slanted that they indeed, fall over. They tend also to sensationalize some headlines.
But anyway, after following some of their links to Aussie, British, and other newssources outside of the US, and reading other stories they had to offer, I found a whole WORLD of news unreported in the United States.
If you look closely at US media corporations, they are so interrelated with movies, magazines, tastemaking, sports teams and stadiums, advertising, records, entertainment, personalities, local and national newspapers, and local and national chains of TV stations, and even comic books, it’s hard to tell where one stops and another one begins.
Our local five o’clock news, on any given evening, has a political review, movie and TV reviews, info on the lastest Oscars and Emmees, celebrity gossip, sports reviews, comments on other news reports; ‘canned’ reports from PR services that are almost infomercials, even their own home company, and even wardrobes by connected fashion houses. Some of the news is directly quoted from AP wire, word for word what is also in their local paper, owned also by them. Sad. Only the weather is news, and they get that wrong most of the time, too.
The calm before the storm. Bird migration and flu season will soon be starting.
it’s all about the $$$$$. The bottom line is always green.
pfwag and Grace RN - Yep. and Yep.
heddiecalifornia -
‘’”Only the weather is news, and they get that
wrong most of the time, too.”’‘
…and Yep :)
Also the Wall Street Journal used to have a daily information section on bird flu news but they have recently discontinued it.
heddiecalifornia at17:57- about the weather is news comment….LOL! you is one funny lady.
I have to come to fluwiki to hear what is happening in the Netherlands, where I live. The media here is also totally uninterested in reporting anything about BF or the situation in Indonesia- very bitter when you consider that Indonesia was a NL colony for 400 years, and many people of Indonesian ancestry are living here.
Maybe the fact that this land is the #2 producer of poultry in the world(I didn’t know that either ‘til I came here) has something to do with it?………
Maybe we should start a rumor that Tom Cruise has bird flu….
The bird flu section at MSNBC still exists, the link for it has just been moved from the left margin to lower down the center of the page.
You can bookmark this link
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