Using HM's English-language global infectious disease database events (3), we identified expected periods of decreased reporting of infectious disease due to newsroom constraints between July 1, 2008, and August 31, 2011. Crowdout events were defined as averaging greater than five events per day for at least 2 weeks, plus making up at least 50% of daily events. Meeting these criteria were H1N1/swine flu (two instances), Haiti's cholera epidemic, 2010, and the E.coli outbreak in Germany, 2011. The December holiday period, when most of the newsroom is off duty, was also tested. We examined whether the average number of noncrowdout events differed significantly from the average daily HM events at baseline, defined as similarly structured periods without holidays or high-profile epidemic events. Baselines were measured before and after the crowdout period, plus during the same time period in other applicable years. Means were compared using paired t tests with unequal variances.