Whether you say swine flu or the H1N1 virus. What to call this pandemic alert isn't the media's only problem.
"I do think it was less than helpful. Like i said, I think it was more like, 'panic, worry, you need to be very cautious'. But for the regular flu you don't hear that very often."
According to the project excellence in journalism, H1N1 stories took up 43 percent of air time on the network news.
This for a virus that at that time had killed one person in the us. To date, the CDC reports three people have died from H1N1 in the us.
"Please, please!!! Do a news story on the swine flu that actually gives information instead of discussing the hysteria. Swine flu is just the flu. End of story. Mexicans don't carry it. If you work with Mexicans you are not going to get it. I work in an ER and am amazed at the ignorance of people and the information that is being given out," said a viewer Stacey.
Here in mid-Missouri, KOMU issued guidelines to our journalists. Telling them how to properly report on this pandemic alert without scaring the public.
Our main goal is to put in perspective and give people the odds about something like this. Is this a disease that they would really have a likelihood to catch? How bad is it if they catch it? Who dies from it? And so on. If the reporters follow those steps. Then I think it puts it in perspective and it won't scare people unnecessarily," said KOMU news director Stacey Woelfel.
But with face masks and Germ X flying off the shelves nationwide. As a whole, did the media over react?
"I thought the cable networks were way over the top for the most part early on in the coverage of the swine flu outbreak. We did see lots of experts and you could sift through all of the hype and get lots of good information, but there was quite a bit of hype and quite a bit of, you might say, scare tactics early on," said host views of the news Mike McKean.
If you'd like to comment about our coverage of H1N1 or anything else, you can just call the Your View comment line at 573-884-6397 or go to our web site and click on the Your View tab. Then watch Friday nights at 6 as we report your view of the news.
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