more is less

Joe Garofoli, the SF Chron's media writer -- yes, they still have one -- incisively questions whether more information on the swine flu is resulting in a public that is less informed.

It's a problem that has been attributed to the 24-hour news cycle for years whenever a big story (with good visuals) broke: a constant barrage of too much information, designed to fill the space between commercials. But today the plague of TMI has been exacerbated by the deluge of scare-sites on the Web, which makes it hard for some folks to separate fact from fiction. Or reliable information (no need to panic) from rumor (beware the pork chop).

In this case at least, it seems like slow news may be good news. bk

Quick! Send me an editor!

Send me a hatchet!

Blogger Jason Linkins blogs on HuffPo today about a piece on Time.com by Michael Kinsley who (kind of) blogs about too many blogs. Read Linkins', uh, blog here.

Faced with much too much information out here in webland, the only sane thing for a sensible person to do is step away from the keyboard and exit the net.

As Linkins writes: "So the glut of content may continue to grow and grow, unabated, but it's existence does not necessitate our enslavement to it. Tomorrow, a tree shall fall in a forest somewhere, and this occasion shall pass, un-Twittered."

Or un-linked. bk