Marketplace has reported on swine flu several times this autumn. (You can check out its recent coverage here, including today’s piece on workplace worries.)
Managing editor George Judson explained to me in an email that the Marketplace team is “tracking [H1N1] as a developing story.” This means they’re paying close attention but being selective:
It comes up fairly often in our daily news meetings, but so far we’re keeping a
fairly high threshold — is the day’s swine flu news really one of the top three or four business/economy stories of the day? Because of our business focus, we’re not so susceptible to scare stories, for lack of a better term. [...]
This selectivity can be a strength for us. A couple of weeks ago, for example, we passed on a White House report that said the pandemic would level some large proportion of the population. The next day the CDC furiously contested the report.
Marketplace is of course a national show with a specific focus — but the general principle of that high threshold makes sense even in the most local newsroom.
