A process by which Mainstream Media addresses an issue incessantly, building up to a sense of pending doom. Of course, the problem, while worrisome, does not pose the grave threat they would like you to believe. Finally, MSM abandons coverage of the problem completely, moving on to another problem.

When you eat dirt for the first time and leave your family to build a shack in the woods

Anything the media/government uses to blow out of proportion and strike fear into people.

Also see:
Swine Flu, Anthrax, Mad Cow, Cuba, Marijuana, Sars, Terrorism, Global Warming, Fuel crisis, etc. etc.