Nothing Short of Libel

It doesn’t seem that a day goes by without my seeing headlines misnaming the H1N1 virus; my local newspaper being one of the worst offenders. How are we going to get the majority of the media to stop referring to the H1N1 virus by the inappropriate moniker of “swine flu”? How about hit them where it hurts, their pocketbooks. The continuation to label H1N1 incorrectly by the media is nothing short of libel, so why not fine the offending media each time they do so. Nothing gets someone’s attention quite like the almighty dollar. The damage done by such irresponsible reporting since the onslaught of the virus last April has been devastating to the pork industry. It has been a constant struggle by pork producers to overcome the bad press and it appears they are losing the battle. Government officials have started correcting reporters during news conferences, and as late as September the U.S. Ag Secretary issued a statement against any media reporting the virus as the swine flu, but for American pork producers it’s probably too little too late.