In the Shadow of THE VIRUS

The BBC 6 o'clock news has just spent nearly half of its time devoted to the contained outbreak of N5H1 flu in turkeys on a farm in Suffolk.

Yes, its news.

Yes, its of particular interest, given the possible cross-over of the virus to the human population.

But... HALF THE FUCKING NEWS?

Is anyone dead?
Is a pandemic about to break out?
Is there panic in the streets (apart from the media, that is)?

After the normal bit of reporting on the day's progress, Natasha Kaplinski goes on a tour of the local towns to find the most panic-stricken members of the public to broadcast.

"Here I am in the small town of Holton, visiting people in the shadow of the virus."

No, I'm not shitting you, that's the phrase she used: shadow of the virus.

Natasha then goes on in one snippet to ask why no-one seems particularly worried about the outbreak.

'Cos we're not idiots you stupid fucking bint, is what I pray one man will say... but instead calmly points out that everything seems to be under control. Oh, for such restraint.


The BBC's own Have Your Say on the subject is also full of restraint and complaint:

Oh no, NOT again, please!!!!
Another 24 to 48 hours of total media hype & saturation on a complete non-story...

Our media don't so much report the news, as manufacture and hype it, usually with little sense of proportion.

The day they prove you can get bird flu from eating the cooked meat is the day I will start to worry...

bird flu
global warming
terroist attack is imminent
do you enjoy trying to cause panic?

Enough of the hyped tabloid journalism. We get more than we can stomach from the Daily Hate Mail, Screws of the World and The Scum.