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The prospect of a pandemic outbreak of a brand new strain of influenza overshadowed all other news. Coverage of the Mexican-based swine 'flu, which had been a nine-minute Story of the Day on Friday, gained momentum. It occupied fully 61% of the three-network newshole (34 min of 57), leading off all three newscasts with the public health angle and then following up from Mexico City. The death toll in Mexico has now reached 149, with a handful of non-lethal cases occurring in Queens NY and elsewhere around the globe.

ABC and NBC led their newscasts with the international response to the influenza outbreak as the World Health Organization raised its pandemic watch to Level Four on a one-to-six scale. NBC's Robert Bazell explained that Level Four means "sustained disease outbreaks of a new and potentially dangerous" virus. ABC's John McKenzie interpreted the WHO move as "further acknowledgement that this swine 'flu is both potent and on the move." He noted "jitters around the globe." On CBS, Kelly Wallace concentrated on the domestic public health watch, as the Centers for Disease Control analyzed 28 cases at a parochial high school in Queens NY, some of whose students traveled to Mexico for spring break.

All three newscasts included President Barack Obama carefully calibrated soundbite to the nation in their lead: "This is obviously a cause for concern and requires a heightened state of alert but it is not a cause for alarm."


Andrew Tyndall 4/28/09 11:42:36 pm

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