Via the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: Swine flu coverage in Brazil called "irresponsible". Excerpt:
Coverage of the H1N1 virus has fueled an an increase in health reporting in the United States. But coverage of the illness in Brazil has been criticized by several experts, media analysts, and some journalists themselves.
Among the most criticized is the daily Folha de S. Paulo, especially after its ombudsman, Carlos Eduardo Lins e Silva, harshly harshly criticized his colleagues.
On July 26, he said “the reporting, principally the front page story on H1N1 flu last Sunday (19), constituted one of the most serious journalistic errors committed by this paper since I started here in April 2008.” The headline said “swine flu (is) expected to affect at least 35 million in two months.”I mentioned the same story on July 19, calling it the scare headline of the day. And the headline is certainly misleading, since the story itself said the projection of 35 million cases was based on assumptions in a 2006 plan that might not hold true for H1N1.
