On The Media

I think the coverage of bed bugs gets so much attention because it causes fear in the community. It is similar to the coverage after 9/11 when we were constantly bombarded with terrorist threat levels categorized by colors. We hear everyday that we are going through the "Secong Great Depression". Fear tactics work well in America and journalists thrive off of it. Fear keeps the viewers/readers attention for days and even causes alarm when we are not even threatened. The level of alarm these headlines send is ridiculous. People spend large amounts of money on identity theft and computer viruses. And at what point did the "credit score

become something to monitor. If we are on our toes and "take action" against these threats then we have done our job as comsumers, keeping the wheels turning.

Fear tactics keep America going. We are told to fear bed bugs, national security threats, the economy and identity theft to name a few. We have to protect our computers from viruses. And when did credit report monitoring become an everday chore? Journalists thrive on fearing the public. If the public believes they are threatened, they watch more news and read more newspapers. Often real threats go unnoticed because of biased news coverage. We are afraid of our children getting shot. But so many more children die each year from drowning. I would be willing to bet there are still many unsafe swimming pools out there. Then as a functioning member of society when they take unnecessary precations to stay safe. Then they can sleep at night, and they won't let those bed bugs bite.