Recently, ABC’s “Primetime Live” reported on the level of security at various nuclear reactors around the country. Immediately after the news report aired, KTVX Channel 4 news at 10 p.m. broadcasted a follow-up story, reinforcing the idea that the U’s nuclear reactor is vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
Yet when interviewed, nuclear researchers at the U said that many of the claims made by these programs are completely false.
Television news outlets are often accused of sensationalizing the news. In this case, the ABC report unnecessarily appealed to the fears of many Americans, claiming that terrorists can exploit nuclear reactors all over the nation.
If true, that would have been a very important news story. Unfortunately, it seems that many of the claims made by “Primetime” and other news programs were greatly exaggerated.
Furthermore, now that flaws in the theory have been revealed, no one at ABC is taking responsibility for the fact that it utilized scare tactics to make a story more exciting.
It seems that if “Primetime” had done a little more research on the topic, it would have realized that there were flaws in its terrorist theory. Ultimately, its credibility is damaged because it didn’t put in the time and effort necessary to make sure that it had its facts straight. After all, it is better to get the story right than to get it first.
In this case, “Primetime” stuck with the stories as reported by several interns who simply went around and tried to open doors.
But what is more troubling is the idea that perhaps “Primetime” made a conscious decision to omit some sides of the story.
When the media ignores some information or selectively seeks the information that they think will lead to the “best” news story, they are violating the trust that the public has given them. Such reporting is similar to scientific researchers throwing out trials that don’t fit in with their stated hypothesis. Sure, such practices would make researchers look better-but the results become complete nonsense.
It is of the utmost importance that television media outlets provide fair and correct news coverage, as many people rely solely on TV for their news coverage. Obviously with ratings playing such a massive role in programming, there is the temptation to sensationalize the news-but to do so is a great disservice to the public.
