The Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, Colo., on media coverage of the swine flu:

As of Friday, there had been exactly one death in the United States from the swine flu. He wasn't a U.S. citizen. He was a Mexican youth who happened to die in this country.

There are a few dozen other cases in the United States and nearly all of them are reportedly mild. People suffering from the swine flu aren't on their death beds. In fact, most of them are probably suffering not a great deal more than if they had a common cold.

But 36,000 Americans die every year from the common, garden variety flu.

Those statistics quite starkly illustrate the insidious nature of the media, particularly television, to run, and run hard, with the panic story du jour. We, that being the print media, won't deny some culpability, but much of the current unnecessary near-hysteria about swine flu must be laid at the feet of the 24-hour news networks.

If one were to listen, and unfortunately far too many people do, to the likes of MSNBC, CNN and Fox the past few days, he or she might logically conclude that we're in the midst of a deadly flu outbreak the likes of which haven't been seen since 1918.

That is about as far from the case as it could possibly be. ...

But perspective is something that's lost in the age of instant and constant news. Something, after all, has to fill up all that air time.

So yes, do wash your hands often.

Yes, cough into a tissue.

Yes, do stay home if you feel ill.

And please, please, pay no attention to the hyperventilating reporters and anchors who would have us all believe that death from swine flu is imminent.

It's not.

The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, on FEMA and children:

It's not a bad idea for FEMA to have a Web site aimed at children with quizzes, games and other activities about disaster preparedness.

After all, children are affected by disasters, and giving them age-appropriate information and tools for coping might help them face such difficulties.

But including an online coloring book that features planes hitting the World Trade Center shows a shocking lack of sense and sensitivity.

The title of the coloring book should have served as a good tip-off that this particular offering was problematic. It was called "A Scary Thing Happened."

A scary thing certainly did happen back in 2001. But giving children a visual of that scary thing and asking them to embellish it with color doesn't seem like a sound way to handle such a touchy, traumatic subject.

Fortunately, the coloring book is gone.

FEMA is reviewing all the content put on the agency's Web site by the prior administration, spokesman Clark Stevens said. If the coloring book is any indication, a thorough review is a good idea. ...

The FEMA spokesman wouldn't give a specific reason for the coloring book's removal. But the reason seems pretty obvious: a clueless thing happened.

And now, thankfully, it's been erased.

(May 10, 2009)