The main purpose of this blog is to have a forum where we can all have a chat as if we were sharing a cube instead of working virtually.  So if we ran into each other around the coffee pot this morning, I’d be asking what you thought about last night’s BBC news coverage of the avian flu non-pandemic originating from Fife, Scotland. 

One dead wild bird tested positive for the avian flu.  This was the BBC’s lead story.  Coverage was more than 13 minutes long and included at least three (maybe four) separate reports.  The rest of  the news coverage, including all world and national news took about five minutes.  One bird died of a virus that is not transferable to the human population.  The food supply is not at risk.  The risk is restricted to the bird population in a small region in Scotland. 

In other news…a nurse was stabbed to death in a frenzied attack outside a hospital , Blair and Ahern made a joint announcement about Ireland, at least 12 people, including several children, were killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq…the list of important news goes on. 

Ok OK, I concede ‘the bird flu arrives in Britain story’ is actual news and merits coverage.  But the way I see it, this heavy-handed treatment by the BBC is not only unnecessary from a public information standpoint, it gives undue importance to the event and implies a much higher health risk to Britons. 

Someone convince me I’m wrong.