All in the family: MSNBC reports on the infected NBC employee.   (Photo: Screenshot of MSNBC)

But if you thought very long about the weirdness, it got to be terrifying again. "Just because you see lots of people in bubble suits," said a friend at NBC, "there's no reason to assume there's a secret that no one wants to talk about." Which sounded truly terrifying.

But in the end, everybody got down to basics. "Sending the powder to NBC and the New York Times and other news organizations is a highly effective way to spread a feeling of panic, since the media are all so self-obsessed and will splash the story everywhere, thus freaking out the entire country," read an e-mail from a colleague at another news organization, asking me for a comment.

Related:

• Archive: “This Media Life”
• Articles by Michael Wolff
• Table of Contents: Oct 22, 2001 issue of New York | Subscribe!