There's a guy who writes a blog called, "Squeeze Box Press." I don't know his name but he gets a hero award from me. In his post of March 17th, 2011 entitled:
WHY BAD JOURNALISM HAS DRIVEN ME TO DESPERATE ENDS
He explains that he is starting a Wall of Shame to list up all this crap reporting. It is a wonderful read too. He writes:
- Science reporting. I have a degree in fine arts, and I could write better science articles than most science writers could. Any journalist who suggested that Fukushima could be “another Chernobyl” should be made to retake his 9th grade science class and then have his journalist license revoked. Oh wait…
- Reporting on Japan. JAPAN IS SOOO WEIRD! JAPANESE PEOPLE HAVE NO EMOTION! If everything you think you know about Japan was learned from the movies Gung Ho and Mr. Baseball, then maybe you’re not qualified to write an article about Japan. Also, spending a few days, hell, even a month in Japan (probably in a hotel or furnished apartment, or otherwise isolated location) does not make you an expert on the place. Nor does interviewing someone who has lived here for a few months (or even year, if living in one of the many gaijin bubbles).
- Disaster reporting. Two and a half words: Exaggeration and fear-mongering.
This last paragraph is particularly damning and I think right on target. But I am of the opinion that, even more disasterous for everyone is not so much the actual reporting, but the fact that so many people actually believe this stuff! What planet are these people living on?
When will people ever learn? I hear that in the old Soviet Union that the Russian people didn't believe anything that Pravda said because they knew it was propaganda... You'd have thought that western society would have produced more discerning intelligent people... But I guess not.
This guy then goes on to explain what the Wall of Shame is all about: Atrocious, bad, malicious and/or fear mongering reporting going on in the western media and how he wants to put them all on record. He writes:
This Wall of Shame is being assembled by various people, many of whom are on the ground in Japan as residents, not temporarily assigned journalists, who are sick of the sensationalist, overly speculative, and just plain bad reporting that has gone on since the Tohoku quake in Japan on March 11. We feel that contacting each and every publication and reporter every time a bad report shows up independently is not effective, and it is our sincere hope that this will encourage journalists to aspire to a higher (some would say minimal) level of responsibility in their reports. If you would like to add a report of your own, feel free. What can you do if you've read some of the articles listed here and you want to do something? We're compiling a list of press organizations to which you can complain HERE.
I highly recommend that you go to the Wall of Shame and view this artwork in progress. Here are just a few of my favorites (many others are not listed yet):
Germany's BILD Zeitung gets an award for total nonsense:
Headline titling "Atomic Horror" mit 4 (!) exclamation marks. The picture on the front shows a person with gas mask/some suit against radioactive pollution. In the background a devastated landscape is shown. On first sight it looks like a nuclear desert, however it is a picture from the destruction caused by the Tsunami.
On the next pages they ask: "And what´s up with the Sushi
in the restaurants? Can we still eat it"? (emphasis mine)
Even the alternative media get in on the act of ridiculous reporting with Kurt Nimmo's nonsense in Infowars.com:
Comparing Fukushima to Chernobyl;
Fear-Mongering Headline "Japanese Nuclear Meltdown Would Be Hundreds of Times Worse Than Chernobyl" with no supporting evidence;
Grotesque factual errors: "The 480-megawatt Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is a hundred times more powerful than the ill-fated reactor at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine." In fact Chernobyl reactors were 1000 MWe while Reactor 1 at Fukushima Daiichi is 480 MWe, less than half Chernobyl's power.
Oh, no! Not Scientific American!? Yes. Scientific American too needs to sell ad space. They allow writer Steve Mirsky off his leash to fan the flames of panic:
"Radioactive waste dump for years to come." and "This is going to be like Chernobyl." Scientific American joins the ranks of popular journalism. Added offense severity points for retaining the word 'scientific' in their name. (emphasis mine)
If you are intelligent and sick and tired of the mass media sensationalism (but I repeat myself) you can see much much more at the Wall of Shame: http://jpquake.wikispaces.com/Journalist+Wall+of+Shame
Thanks so much to the Wall of Shame, Ray Hearn
"Unfortunately the radioactive media-fallout has achieved all its aims. With 18 days since this great national tragedy, the media are the beneficiaries - as well as those corporate-scavengers waiting on the sidelines for "business opportunities" that the ensuing panic created. Hmmm. " - Michael Distacio
ReplyDeleteYeah... What a load of bollocks!
ReplyDeleteeven more disasterous for everyone is not so much the actual reporting, but the fact that so many people actually believe this stuff! What planet are these people living on?
ReplyDeleteApart from stupidity, I wonder if, in the West at least, the tradition (or is it myth?) of "the duties of the fourth estate" have anything to do with folks' lingering desire to believe the press?
Read again the words of London Times' Leo Lewis. Do they sound pompous and self-serving to you?
“It is a very fine balance. But if the price paid for having a vigilant media is occasional bursts of sensationalism, I’d probably take that over a more acquiescent press whose worst failure is the dereliction of its fourth estate duties,” he said.
Yes "occasional bursts". That's all we get, isn't it? Excuse me while I laugh...
I don't think the same idea of "fourth estate duties" applies to Japan. For one thing, nobody challenges anyone directly on tv or news interview. Because of that, perhaps the Soviet attitude, in a watered-down version, is prevalent in Japan? I.e., they take everything with a pinch of salt because they know the anchormen are not going to be directly pointing out weaknesses in arguments or reasoning. Guessing here, really.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI assume many will quickly agree with me that it's probably very risky and at best quite ill-mannered for me or anyone to even dare considering the idea of comparing the "very real" and tragic incidents which took place earlier this month in Japan with what happened 75 years ago, but somewhat if feels as if the parallel is just too (disturbingly) tempting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9VWC8eB9ic
Talk soon,
Marc
PS: I bet they actually omit numbers (not a single mention of any single "unit", no sievert, no becquerel, nothing in any amount precise in this one article - and it's not the exception) when they write their "report"... invisible and unit-less dangers surely make for greater revenues for the publishing companies...
ReplyDeletehttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471904576228833487550772.html