Lost In America, Org.

Look! Up In The Sky ~ Is It A Bird - The Flu - Or Just More Media Hype As Usual

By Christopher Cross

It's not like the media is above latching onto a story and milking it for all its' worth, after all, the media has done this for years to increate television ratings and newspaper sales.  But when it centers on issues of profound importance such as public health, where do we draw the line between good journalistic ethics and mere media hype. 

Well, the answer rests in whether or not there is factual credibility in the stroy being presented and a good sign of of whether this exists is by comparing your local news to each other to see if there are significant differences in facts being represented for the same story subject matter.  If there are substantial differences then it is likely that while there may be some truth existing, the majority is media hype.

In terms of the Bird Flu, the Centers For Disease Control reports that: "Because of concerns about the potential for more widespread infection in the human population, public health authorities closely monitor outbreaks of human illness associated with avian influenza. To date, human infections with avian influenza A viruses detected since 1997 have not resulted in sustained human-to-human transmission. However, because influenza A viruses have the potential to change and gain the ability to spread easily between people, monitoring for human infection and person-to-person transmission is important. (See Information about Influenza Pandemics for more information.)

Thus, the caution is not in actual sustained cases of human to human transmission of the Bird Flu but rather the ability of all viruses to mutate into a form that [might] lead to transmission between people, emphasis on the word [might] because it is not automatically guaranteed that once a virus or a bacteria mutates that it does so with the conscious decision to transfer from person to person.

Computerized Predictions of Bird Flu

By Christopher Cross

For those of you who remember the movies titled The Birds. the current probability of the Bird Flu is a revolation in and of itself.  However, CDC officials are about to try what could be a very controversial experiment: They want to alter a bird flu virus to see if it will infect humans. It's an attempt to simulate what is believed to have happened in past flu pandemics, where millions of people died worldwide. The world is 37 years overdue for the next pandemic and the current outbreaks of bird flu in Asia are worrisome to public health officials, both here and abroad. 

Missouri health officials have come up with a prediction...should a bird flu pandemic come to the state. Based on a Centers for Disease Control computer model, up to two million residents would catch the flu and five to ten thousand would die.

Defense Lawyer For Saddam Found Shot

By Christopher Cross

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The body of a lawyer in Saddam Hussein's trail was found dumped in the street with two bullet wounds in the head hours after gunmen dressed as security forces took him from his office. A fearful defense team demanded Friday that the trial be delayed or moved out of Iraq.  Click here for details

Legitimate questions have been raised on whether or not Saddam will or even can receive a fair and impartial hearing in and of itself but especially in lieu of the presiding judges and their backgrounds and political affiliations.

And while many if not the majority will say that such is immaterial to the necessity of paying him due punishment for his alleged crimes.  We must remember that America is on trial as much as Saddam is in his hearing for it is the American judicial system at work in his trial and thus, our sense of fair and just judicial review and credibility is on the line here. 

The American Rude Factor

By Christopher Cross

Many years ago, a television show aired for, which I do not recall the name but it centered on a television news reporter who became so frustrated and angry over the redundant negative broadcasts that one evening he stood up and started shouting "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" This in turn transferred with scenes of American's throwing their televisions out their windows in protest against the constant flooding of negative media reports. 

In retrospect, I am left to wonder about the recent media reports that depict American's as being rude.  True, we are rude some more than others but is that necessarily a newsworthy issue that media agencies need to report?