From my town newspaper, in the story covering a young English teacher who was just now able to return home after being in Japan during the earthquake. She gets it, why can’t the media?
While saying the threat associated with the damaged nuclear power plants, about 140 miles from Koga, have been overstated by the media, she quipped, “I’m not glowing. I was supposed to be glowing.”
Full story here:
http://www.chicoer.com/fromthenewspaper/ci_17651319
The Register also mentioned something similar about the media yesterday in their online briefing:
Good news from Japan: Situation ‘fairly stable’, says IAEA
And, an online “wall of shame” has been established for logging media blunders in this affair:
http://jpquake.wikispaces.com/Journalist+Wall+of+Shame
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More evidence that the msm just can not be believed.
“I’m fuzzy on the whole ‘good/bad’ thing.”
Here is a good article about how overblown most of the media coverage has been about the nuclear plants in Japan: http://nicedoggie.net/?p=628 This guy seems to really know his stuff.
Perhaps the most irritating thing about this disaster was listening to so-called nuclear experts that were in fact anti-nuclear zealots on the Alphabet Channels. Never identified as such of course. But the pattern was so similar it had clearly been coordinated. The ‘expert’ would appear very calm and initially seem quite positive. He (they were all males) would then re-assure the host and media that there is a probability that things would turn out ok, all the while calmly describing things in the dire fashion possible. Clearly calculated to instill fear in the audience. NBC was particularly fond of such cranks. GE must be proud,
Someone should also remind Fox and CNN that their job is to report the news, not cause hysteria and panic through media hype. But I guess that’s infotainment for you!
that wall of shame deserves as many links to it as possible. I cannot stomach the things showing up in the news.
A major disaster has happened: a serious earthquake followed by a tsunami has killed thousands, berieved countless others and made the inhabitants of entire towns homeless.
The immense 8.9 earthquake also struck some power stations. Damage resulted and some heroic workers have been injured while acting to avoid the damage to the power stations adding to the disaster. So far they have been successful and only themselves have been put at risk.
Meanwhile, the media screams about possible – but improbable – worst case scenarios concerning the damage to the power stations. And vested interests have used the damage to the power stations as an excuse to inhibit use of nuclear power.
The victims of the disaster need care and concern.
The heroic power station workers deserve admiration for their heroism.
The fact that the nuclear power plants have NOT caused harm to the public despite being hit by an 8.9 earthquake needs to be acknowledged.
But fearmongering about improbable nuclear meltdowns makes better stories so that gets much attention which deflects from the needs for care, admiration and fact. I could weep.
Richard
Chancellor Merkel should get a prominent place in that wall of shame
My house is radioactive – thanks to all the fly ash from my coal burner. I cant afford electricity, thanks to British green tariffs.
It’s pretty telling of how far down our vaunted Maggot Slime Media has gone when they won’t bother to correct things they know are false. Hyping the Dai-ichi reactor problems, by equating it to the fire at Chernobyl when they know there is no massive graphite moderator to fuel the fire. Yes it is dangerous to the immediate vicinity, and a certain amount of radioactives will escape, but to envision a mushroom cloud heading for the US West Coast? methinks they’ve all been eating the ‘shrooms!
I don’t watch television news. I will only read print or on-line papers because they filter out most of the sensationlism found in television media.
On occassion, I will turn on CNN if I am looking for an update on a current story. For instance, the morning after the tsunami I wanted information on the status of Hawaii because of a relative living there and I knew I could get an update within minutes.
Unfortunately, a very small percentage of what is reported on CNN, like the others, is actual news. The rest is time filler. I do not have the patience to wade through all the nonsense to get to the core facts. With other television media sources, I can’t stomach the sensationalism and fear-mongering. As well, I do not appreciate being constantly bombarded with commentators telling me what I should think.
But, the sensationlist 11 o’clock news and 24 news channels only exist because people watch them. I sincerely wish the American (and Canadian) public would make the best possible decision for their collective peace of mind: turn off the news.
Beesaman says:
March 19, 2011 at 9:18 am
Someone should also remind Fox and CNN that their job is to report the news, not cause hysteria and panic through media hype. But I guess that’s infotainment for you!
What is interesting is that far-left MSNBC had a report about how overblown the fears are. I would think the last thing a far-left organization, especially one owned by GE which stands to gain if nuclear is shunned, would do is rail against overblown nuclear fears.
I am in Tokyo and lived through this earthquake and have no intention of leaving. I have been reading this sensationalist coverage of the reactor problems with absolute rage.
I believe GE recently sold NBC/MSNBC to Comcast.
In reply
Beesaman @ur momisugly 9:18
I hear in a lot of places that ” . . . (fill in any “news” group) job is to report the news.” Where does that come from? News organizations and their parent companies are businesses, their job is to make a profit. They do that by programming news they think will motivate their audiences to watch more, period. However I do agree with your point that they shouldn’t be creating mass hysteria and/or panic with their deceitful reporting.
Wade @ur momisugly 9:45
I would expect a GE subsidiary to try and sheild its parent corporation from major litigation further down the road since GE designed the Japan reactors in Fukushima.
http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/13/6256121-general-electric-designed-reactors-in-fukushima-have-23-sisters-in-us
As the Wall Street Journal op ed pointed out today they may be forced to pay billions in cleanup later. Just as BP was forced to pay for the oil spill cleanup even though the law specifically limited their liability.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703818204576206810892722994.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
Wade says:
March 19, 2011 at 9:45 am
>> I would think the last thing a far-left organization, especially one owned by GE which stands to gain if nuclear is shunned
The nuclear plants in Japan were built by GE.
The absolutely most hysterical nut job that gets way too much face time on all the networks is Michio Kaku . . . so much hysterical fear mongering crap spews out of his gob . . . .
I just switch the channel as soon as he comes on.
He’s someone riding his PhD label into a TV talking Head.
There will almost certainly at this point in time be a silver lining to all this.
If the biggest of the world earthquakes end up causing near zero radiation casualties a lot of fear of the unknown will be eliminated.
Here in California it was the specter of a major earthquake that was by far the number one fear monger tool versus nuclear power. Additionally, a lot is going to be learned from this disaster that will improve our ability to safely harness nuclear power in the future. Dealing the the too low seawalls at the Fukushima plant no doubt already has a lot of gears churning out ideas in engineer heads in Japan.
Not everybody is running around with their gears running out of control.
I still say nuclear energy is not save!
Wade,
How do you figure that GE will “stand to Gain” from this incident? These damaged reactors ARE GE Reactors!
The guy will need an awfully big wall for all the names. I am amazed at just how low the media is stooping with this story. But the award for the worst must go to CNN’s Wolf Blitzenfuhrer. The “Dumbest Man on Television” has made an absolute fool of himself.
Every time I watch the BBC news they seem to be concentrating on the nuclear issue far too much compared to the appalling problems caused by the tsunami.
I try to tell people how overblown the media scare stories on the nuclear reactors are, but some people seem scared of ANY radiation. So I tell them they had better not come to my house which is about 8-10 times over the background level of radiation (from radon – well I do live on Dartmoor – in spite of having a radon sump and fan fitted; it was around 90 times the background level in the main living rooms before) but somehow that seems to be different even though it is a permanent state not a short-lived one.
The anti-nuclear zealots who seem to want us all to live in straw huts eating raw berries are positively wetting themselves in glee at being given a large stick to whack the nuclear industry with. Look – if someone has an accident in a forty-year-old car, do we all stop driving? Do all the motor manufacturers stop production? Of course not. What has happened in Japan is a terrible accident, but it’s just that – a unique set of circumstances that will, in all probability, never happen again. The most we can do is mourn the victims, do what we can to help the survivors and learn what lessons we can – calmly and without over-reacting. As a final thought, as someone said on the radio the other day – what would have happened if Japan had generated a significant proportion of its electricity from offshore windmills and tidal turbines? How would those bird and dolphin mincers have fared in the tsunami?
At least the Denphone offices are not getting irradiated with several thousand micro-sieverts.
Or maybe even several milli-sieverts ?
http://www.denphone.com/denphone-tokyo-office-geiger-counter
CNN was interviewing a nuclear power “expert” and I found it interesting until he was identified as from the Union of Concerned Scientists. I granted that organization the same credibility for nuclear power as for Global Warming. Remote controls are useful sometimes.