[OWK]

What really concerns me is the lack of forthrightness from officials, and the apparent absence of a truly free press.

They are attempting to prevent a widespread panic, and I would suspect that the press has been asked to cooperate.

But in my opinion, more panic is caused by the distrust and subterfuge, than by forthright reporting of actual events.

[jacquej]

The public officials have a tough job. They do not want people to panic, but need to figure out how many people to put on prophylactic antibiotics. A very fine line to walk, in my opinion.

And for the guy who thought maybe a small animal had died in the vent system. Creative explanation, but anthrax just isn't present in this country, and small animals die in vent systems all the time...

I want to hear more from the husband of the med tech in Houston... that is scary!

[browardchad]

They are attempting to prevent a widespread panic, and I would suspect that the press has been asked to cooperate.

Agreed -- but the media is also responsible for the hype, since they haven't really concentrated on the fact that Anthrax is really hard to spread to significant numbers of the population -- and this story might prove that. Instead, we hear reports about people buying gasmasks, antibiotics, etc. I thought the Herald did a responsible job in their first reporting, but now we are getting dumbed-down stories from them as well.

The concern might be more about tourism than anything else, since the tourist season begins when the weather gets cold up north.

[demnomo]

But in my opinion, more panic is caused by the distrust and subterfuge, than by forthright reporting of actual events.

Bingo. It just creates more suspicion even if the incident is indeed "isolated and not connected to the events of September 11th." Notice how a lot of the incidents are being described like that. Sure, they're not a few hi-jacked planes crashing into buildings, but they sure hint of terrorism...

[justlurking]

But in my opinion, more panic is caused by the distrust and subterfuge, than by forthright reporting of actual events.

Only among those that pay attention and see the discrepancies. Most of the sheeple are willing to let the "free" press decide what is important.