Why public officials need filters

President Obama took something of a calculated risk in appealing for calm in the first days after the (verboten) "swine" flu was reported. While it's always wise for a leader to make a public appearance during a crisis--and usually even better when he or she succeeds in calming the masses--there is always the possibility that it ends up backfiring if the problem turns out to be much worse than originally thought.

The operative phrase here, at least from a public communication standpoint, is "calculated." Which is not always the case, apparently, if local Oregon health officials can be used as an example.

At a press conference held a day after Obama's remarks, Portland TV stations broke into their regular programming with a live feed from county and state health authorities. Through the inevitable jargon and acronym soup, one statement came through loud and clear from Dr. Mel Kohn, head of the Oregon Public Health Department:

"I expect that at some point we will have a case and probably more in Oregon," the doctor cavalierly volunteered.

Now let's put some context around this quote. This official was trying to say--we think--that the World Health Organization, federal Centers for Disease Control, and other authoritative bodies were on the verge of declaring the flu a pandemic, so it was not unreasonable to assume that Oregon would see a case or two of its own.

But still more context is needed: At the time of this briefing only one death related to the virus had been reported among all 50 states, in Texas. So many people were anxiously awaiting word of any indication that their state might be next, and perhaps worse.

To that end, it would behoove Dr. Kohn to perhaps choose his words a bit more carefully when in the midst of a global health emergency. Naturally, when the conference was opened to questions from the press, the first came from a reporter who immediately asked about that statement.

Kohn tried to explain his comment--somewhat condescendingly--but the hog had already left the barn. News producers had already picked up the quote at the bottom of the screen, and one of the first Tweets after the press conference read: "STATE HEALTH OFFICIALS SAY IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME UNTIL OREGON HAS A CONFIRMED CASE OF SWINE FLU."

Thanks for calming the masses, doc.