Let’s Make It Old News!

May 11th, 2012 - by Juhi Kunde

http://blog.lungevity.org/2012/05/11/le ... -old-news/

At first, I was glad to see Saturday’s story in the Chicago Tribune, “Women who don’t smoke can still get lung cancer.”

Then the dread crept in: This was news!

In this digital age, newspaper editors have to work harder than ever to ensure the stories they run are exciting and unexpected. The best stories always have an element of surprise. The stories should be so unexpected that readers will share it on Facebook and tell their friends, “I had no idea… Did you?”

The Chicago Tribune has an audience of approximately 1.2 million people daily. That’s a lot of people! And you can bet this metropolitan publication employs the best editors with their fingers firmly on the pulse of their city. Good editors know their readers’ interests and cater to their tastes and background.

So, perhaps I should be glad. Glad that the editor at the Chicago Tribune thought that the readers of the greater Chicago area would be interested in learning more about lung cancer. And maybe I should be grateful that this editor learned the statistics that so many LUNGevity supporters already know and decided to share them with others.

But I can’t help but worry that this story, which we all know so well, is still a surprising headline to so many people. T

Perhaps this article, which is an eye-opening piece for so many people, can open our eyes in a different way. While this article teaches others about the rates of lung cancer in nonsmokers, it also teaches us that our work is far from finished.

Right in our own backyard, people still think this is news!

I certainly appreciate that this article is helping to raise lung cancer awareness. But I also think it is powerful motivation to continue expanding our events and becoming LinkUp advocates.

Let’s work together to make this story old news!