As
I was searching for outrageous and exaggerated stories, I found myself so surprised
at just how ridiculous a lot of the stories were! It almost seemed as if the
journalists covering them had no intention of even sounding slightly legitimate
or fact-based. Bold statements, exclamation points and colorful embellished
imagery laced the headlines. One such story truly caught my eye and captured my
attention, as was the intention of the journalist: “Swine Flu Could Kill
Millions Unless Rich Nations Give £900 Million”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/20/swine-flu-costs-un-report
This story drove every fear,
complaint and doubt about the H1N1 virus to the extreme. Published in the
United Kingdom’s The Guardian, I think
the journalist, Rajeev Syal, created such a dramatic story to take a current
problem and turn it into a “pandemic killing millions and causing anarchy.” I
think this story was driven so ridiculously out of proportion because the whole
swine flu situation was covered by a lot of different journalists across the
world. I think Syal was attempting to get his story a lot of traffic and to
have the strongest rumors spread.
I think that to make an interesting and
accurate story covering swine flu, Syal could have focused on and highlighted
individual cases with the swine flu. This would provide accurate recounts, yet
not make it so sensational. I also think Syal could have shared the numbers,
facts and quotes concerning just how many people have been affected, in what
regions of the world and what specific steps and policies the government is
making to fix the situation. His story as it currently stands leaves a lot of
unanswered questions just blanketed by inflated claims that readers get hung up
on.
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