Hyping swine flu isn't really healthy

While most news outlets strive mightily to strike the right balance -- spreading information about a public health concern, while tamping down alarm -- others seem to have a congenital inability to tell this story with precision or proportion. Television in particular can struggle with a story like this, when reporters and news anchors muddle along, untethered for hours in the vast space-time continuum created by the Web and cable TV. Desperate to fill to the top of the hour and armed with little clarity -- no one can say for certain how prolonged or deadly this flu episode will be -- some newsies can't stop spinning. And conjuring a frightening reality that isn't quite real.