Must I ban the news?

Everyone's been talking about banning young kids from certain video games recently, and of course, there's been a longstanding debate about banning or limiting certain TV shows, movies and songs. 

Me...I'm thinking we need to ban kids from watching the news. 

My son was on the couch yesterday after school, saying he's sick with the flu and he's scared because people die of the flu. I'm not sure he's sick. He fakes it a lot, especially this year. I have to be tough with him and unfortunately look for major signs of sickness before I take him to the doctor and allow him to stay home from school. So, I'm next to him, trying to convince him that the flu can be a big concern, but it's really only the case for older adults, people with serious medical conditions and babies. Kids his age are fine. 

And wouldn't you know it, on comes a story about a 16-year-old boy who died from complications brought on by the flu. I swear, it was like the CNN producers had cameras in our house. 

I had to backtrack and explain that I would always watch him closely and get him the best help in the world when he's really sick, and that although that poor teenager did pass away, it was a rare thing -- and that is why it was on the news. It IS news -- something different. He was still scared, and I felt helpless. So...despite my desire to educate him on national and world events, I'll be clicking on his crazy cartoons to watch whenever he's around. Which is NOT today. Today I made him go to school.