I haven't commented thus far, but I have to predict that all of this coverage is to fuel the fire of any parent's worst fear and to accelerate the microchipping program that is already in the works.
I would not put it past the media. Local media here has turned into mush. Stories on health foods, loads of weather, health walks, testing new gadgets (I have noticed from my web links page I have to tv news stations that they all test the same gadget and review it at the same time), and filling us with 80%+ fluffy stuff. It's a lot like smart cards - the board members on the companies that make smart cards are also members of the boards of companies implementing them the quickest...
Here is the link to my site, browse through some of the stations and see how much crap there is on 'news' stations. As a side note, the site will be overhauled in August with ratings, affiliate info, clean up some inks, etc.
The media is nothing more than a propaganda machine that churns out whatever misinformation satisfies their end goal.
We've seen this in the case of so-called "special rights" advocates that push their agendas through various high-profile cases. For example, Matthew Sheppard was murdered but because he was gay, it made headlines. James Byrd was murdered, but because he was black, it made headlines.
And how many times have these victims been shamelessly used by the media and special rights advocates as examples of why their agenda must be met? Murders are sadly commonplace, but in order to shock the conscience of the masses - the liberals used these selective horrible crimes to get their goals met (ie, hate crimes legislation, etc).