Nation: One unfortunate side effect of our warming climate is the return of the once-eradicated dengue fever to the U.S., the LA Times reports. Cases of the mosquito-borne disease have appeared in Texas, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The Times report says that last week health officials warned of the strong possibility of a “widespread appearance” of the disease across the country.
World: Authorities in Uzbekistan intercepted material containing cesium-137 (that can be used to create a dirty bomb) on a train bound from Kyrgyzstan to Iran, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports. The news was reported by Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday, even though the discovery occurred Dec. 31.
World: The Saudi Gazette reports that data found by U.S. troops in Iraq show that 246 of 600 militants smuggled into the country for “so-called jihadist operation” in the past two years were from Saudi Arabia.
Business: Shades of “Back to the Future”? General Motors has bought a stake in a company that creates fuel out of garbage, The New York Times reports.
Life: A world without redheads? Unthinkable! Yet it could happen within 100 years, some scientists predict. The Toronto Star reports on an effort to stem the demise of the red-haired tide — an auburn-only dating site, redhedd.com.
O P I N I O N
The term breaking news doesn’t mean what it used to. You’d think it would be reserved for stories carrying a world, national or local impact such as a meteor taking out a major city, a president being assassinated or a tornado in your neighborhood. That’s not so on newspaper Web sites.
On my local paper’s Web site, breaking news today includes stories about a wine tasting, a painting workshop and belly dancing classes. I’m not making this up. Of course there were probably robberies, stabbings, budget concerns and other more noteworthy stories. However, press releases are morphing into breaking news because the editors have been mandated to meet a daily quota of breaking Web, e-mail and text message news updates. This of course comes down from the corporate gods above who care less that the newsroom is staffed way below the basic capacity needed to put out a product each day.
This trend is not just in newspapers. The other day MSNBC was covering “breaking news” about an old building in Boston on fire. No one was inside. There were no explosives or chemicals within that could have endangered surrounding residents and businesses.
Sorry, but fires happen 24/7. Yes, the story in Boston was news. It wasn’t breaking news along the lines of Columbine or the Space Shuttle Challenger.
This overuse of the term breaking news could trigger a “boy crying wolf” response from the public, creating a complacency that might make some ignore a story worthy of their immediate concern.
♣ Nation/world news tally in my local paper today: 1 2/5 pages. Also, the paper was terribly thin today, a whopping 3/32 of an inch.
Feed me 5 Under the Radar
