# 361
After the flurry of news reports of the past couple of weeks, the last 24 hours has been a bit slow. Fridays, being the Moslem Sabbath, tend to herald a slowdown in news reports from Islamic countries like Indonesia and Egypt. There are still scattered reports of new patients showing up at hospitals in and around Jakarta, but no great influx.
What I am seeing, in greater abundance over the past few weeks, are more and more `news articles’ of dubious credibility. And this proliferation of questionable information, often used to sell products or promote companies, is a regrettable side effect of a largely free wheeling information medium.
Weeding through these reports, and trying to decide what is, and what isn’t a legitimate story, can take some doing.
Often, press releases designed to sell products or promote companies are disguised as news stories. Websites, with wares to sell, will often cobble together a `news story’ in order to lure customers in the door. Some of these folks have gotten pretty good at it, too.
It can become difficult, therefore, to know if you are reading a legitimate article, or simply some concoction of a publicist, or some cockeyed theory from someone on the web. As more people decide there is money to be made off of the avian influenza threat, I expect this problem to grow worse.
Readers should view all articles, even on this blog, with a critical eye. I try to authenticate (and provide links) to all of the news items I present. News items are blocked (indented) so they are easily distinguishable from what I write.
It’s important that my readers are able to differentiate between the news, and my opinions. This is a blog, so you can expect to get both.
Sites that advertise, or sell products are not inherently untrustworthy. There are some very good ones out there, which provide excellent information and products at the same time. But some are obviously in the business only to make money, and shamelessly promote cures, or sell high priced preventative measures to unsuspecting customers using fear tactics.
I’ve often promoted the idea that people visit the flu forums. They can be a treasure trove of information regarding avian flu. But they too must be approached with some caution. You can get good information along with some bad. Not all flu forums are created equal, and some are more responsible than others.
In all of them, you will get varied opinions and advice. None of it should be taken as gospel.
There are reliable sources of information on avian flu on the Internet. Sites that I trust and visit every day. I have a number of them listed in the side panel near the top of my blog. There are others as well.
But no matter what you read, or where you read it. It is always wise to remember:
Caveat Lector.
