Re: [Sustain] Fwd: CBS's Nuclear Revival
I hope they were responsive to working together. Seems we have "allies" almost everywhere we look. It is a matter of finding ways to keep each other in each other's loops and, if not "coordinating efforts", at least making a buzz in unison. Overcoming the other side's media blitz will be a big part of it. I am ccing the state Green Party media guy, Cres, with a heads up that his help would be good to have. The main media strategy at present seems to be writing and responding to blogs (my first blog is www.greenuprising.blogspot.com) and writing letters to editors for newspaper articles that promote nukes We need to do something newsworthy. We (SF Green Sustainability Working Group) are considering pushing Leno for stronger legislation than a study, including opposing renewal of nuke operating licenses in the state on the same grounds we now oppose new licenses. I would like to get something happening, Don At 07:48 AM 4/19/2007, you wrote:
Great News! We have some allies outside the immediate environmental ncommunity. Thanks for sharing this Don. I'll write to CBS and FAIR.
-Susan
-- In TrueGreen_NoNukes@yahoogroups.com, Don Eichelberger <done7777@...> wrote:
I looked at the 60 Minutes segment and said to myself, "Noooooo! Not 60 Minutes, too!" I had intended to respond to them, but got turned to other things, until I got this alert. In case you want to respond....
Glad FAIR is doing this.
Don
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:27:06 -0700 From: "Richard A. Knee" <rak0408@...> To: "Knee Richard A." <rak0408@...> Subject: Fwd: CBS's Nuclear Revival ------- Forwarded message ------- From: FAIR <fair@...> To: rak0408@... Cc: Subject: CBS's Nuclear Revival Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:34:18 -0700
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3086
Action Alert
CBS's Nuclear Revival 60 Minutes' critic-free boosterism
4/18/07
On April 8, the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes aired a segment about the "resounding success" of the French nuclear power program,
suggesting that
"emission-free" nuclear power might offer an easy solution to the problem of climate change. The report protected this dubious assertion from skeptical scrutiny by failing to quote a single bona fide critic of the nuclear industry.
The segment was titled "Vive Les Nukes," which gave a good indication of the slant it took. Describing it as "an efficient means of producing large amounts of carbon-free energy," correspondent Steve Kroft announced at the top of the segment that nuclear power is "a technology whose time seemed to come and go, and may now be coming again." The notion of a nuclear power renaissance was bolstered by CBS's choice of interview gueststhe program spoke only to nuclear power supporters (in France and elsewhere), thereby allowing their rhetoric to go unchallenged.
Guests on the segment were French energy official Pierre Gadonniex, French nuclear industry executive Bertrande Durrande, White House deputy secretary of energy Clay Sell (Bush's "point man on nuclear power"), French nuclear executive Anne Lauvergeon, MIT nuclear researcher Andrew Kadak and David Jhirhad of the World Resources Institute, described as "an environmental think tank in Washington."
Jhirhad was the only potentially balancing source, but he is quoted only to make Kroft's point that "even some environmental groups are taking a second look at nuclear power." This is an emerging line in much of the corporate media (e.g., Washington Post, 4/16/06; New York Times, 2/27/07), though the actual number of green groups embracing nuclear power is quite small. The World Resources Institute receives contributions from several energy companies and other major polluters, information that would have been useful for CBS viewers in evaluating Jhirad's claim that the nuclear industry's "safety record has been pretty good."
The segment's one-sided sourcing was made all the more problematic when the White House's Sell claimed that "no serious person can look at the challenge of greenhouse gases and climate change and not come to the conclusion that nuclear power has to play a significant and growing role in meeting that challenge worldwide." Of course, "serious people" do question precisely that--and CBS should have interviewed them.
Excluding such sources meant excluding important information. While France's nuclear power is portrayed as widely popular, CBS failed to mention large protests held across the country on March 17 (Agence France Presse, 3/17/07) against construction of a new nuclear plant. Nor, in touting the massive nuclear reprocessing plant France has built in Normandy, did the show refer to the radiation it releases into the English Channel (NIRS Nuclear Monitor, 3-4/00) or the cluster of leukemia cases occurring around the plant (British Medical Journal, 1/11/97).
Kroft even adopts industry-friendly language in describing the push to revive U.S. nuclear power, discussing the "financial incentives" and "streamlined regulatory system" intended to encourage nuclear energy development. Such "incentives" might better be described as government subsides, which have long been criticized by nuclear industry critics as a waste of taxpayers' money. Unmentioned in the CBS report were similar subsidies in France; according to the U.S.-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (5/4/06), $1 billion a year in government subsidies go to plutonium production alone.
Excluding critical voices allowed grossly misleading information to go unchallenged, as when nuclear executive Lauvergeon claimed, in the segment's conclusion, that "wind and solar are, you know, temporary sources of energy. It works when you have wind, it works when you have sun. No sun, no wind, no energy. You don't want to watch TV only when you have wind." Of course, wind and solar energy are not "temporary" sources of energy; power generated by both can be stored. Airing this sort of misinformation eliminates any real consideration of viable alternatives to nuclear energy.
At one point, Kroft says that "the Bush administration is pushing a nuclear revival." The same could be said for CBS.
ACTION: Contact 60 Minutes to ask why its report on nuclear energy excluded the views of the industry's numerous critics.
CONTACT: CBS 60 Minutes 60m@... (212) 975-3247
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<table cellpadding="5" cellspacing="3" width="769" border="0"> <tr> <td style="font-family:serif; font-size: 86%;" valign="top" width="526"><!-- TemplateBeginEditable name="content" --><P><FONT color=#8f4444><FONT face=Georgia><FONT size=3><SPAN class=communique_category><a href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=15&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fair.org%2Findex.php%3Fpage%3D3086">http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3086</A> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#8f4444><FONT face=Georgia><FONT size=3><SPAN class=communique_category>Action Alert</SPAN><BR><BR></FONT></FONT></FONT><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia><FONT size=3><SPAN class=main_headline>CBS's Nuclear Revival</SPAN><BR></FONT></FONT></STRONG><FONT face=Georgia><FONT size=3><SPAN class=sub_headline>60 Minutes' critic-free boosterism<BR></SPAN><BR><SPAN class=date>4/18/07</SPAN><BR><BR></FONT></FONT><SPAN class=published-content-body><FONT face=Georgia size=3>On April 8, the <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN> newsmagazine <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>60 Minutes</STRONG></SPAN> </FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=16&url=..." target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>aired a segment</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3> about the "resounding success" of the French nuclear power program, suggesting that "emission-free" nuclear power might offer an easy solution to the problem of climate change. The report protected this dubious assertion from skeptical scrutiny by failing to quote a single bona fide critic of the nuclear industry.<BR><BR>The segment was titled "Vive Les Nukes," which gave a good indication of the slant it took. Describing it as "an efficient means of producing large amounts of carbon-free energy," correspondent Steve Kroft announced at the top of the segment that nuclear power is "a technology whose time seemed to come and go, and may now be coming again." The notion of a nuclear power renaissance was bolstered by <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN>'s choice of interview gueststhe program spoke only to nuclear power supporters (in France and elsewhere), thereby allowing their rhetoric to go unchallenged.<BR><BR>Guests on the segment were French energy official Pierre Gadonniex, French nuclear industry executive Bertrande Durrande, White House deputy secretary of energy Clay Sell (Bush's "point man on nuclear power"), French nuclear executive Anne Lauvergeon, MIT nuclear researcher Andrew Kadak and David Jhirhad of the World Resources Institute, described as "an environmental think tank in Washington."<BR><BR>Jhirhad was the only potentially balancing source, but he is quoted only to make Kroft's point that "even some environmental groups are taking a second look at nuclear power." This is an emerging line in much of the corporate media (e.g., <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>Washington Post</STRONG></SPAN>, </FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=17&url=..." target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>4/16/06</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3>; <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>New York Times</STRONG></SPAN>, </FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=18&url=..." target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>2/27/07</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3>), though the actual number of green groups embracing nuclear power is quite small. The World Resources Institute </FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=19&url=..." target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>receives contributions</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3> from several energy companies and other major polluters, information that would have been useful for <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN> viewers in evaluating Jhirad's claim that the nuclear industry's "safety record has been pretty good."<BR><BR>The segment's one-sided sourcing was made all the more problematic when the White House's Sell claimed that "no serious person can look at the challenge of greenhouse gases and climate change and not come to the conclusion that nuclear power has to play a significant and growing role in meeting that challenge worldwide." Of course, "serious people" do question precisely that--and <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN> should have interviewed them.<BR><BR>Excluding such sources meant excluding important information. While France's nuclear power is portrayed as widely popular, <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN> failed to mention large protests held across the country on March 17 (<SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>Agence France Presse</STRONG></SPAN>, 3/17/07) against construction of a new nuclear plant. Nor, in touting the massive nuclear reprocessing plant France has built in Normandy, did the show refer to the radiation it releases into the English Channel (<SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>NIRS Nuclear Monitor</STRONG></SPAN>, </FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=20&url=..." target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>3-4/00</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3>) or the cluster of leukemia cases occurring around the plant (<SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>British Medical Journal</STRONG></SPAN>, </FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=21&url=..." target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>1/11/97</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3>).<BR><BR>Kroft even adopts industry-friendly language in describing the push to revive U.S. nuclear power, discussing the "financial incentives" and "streamlined regulatory system" intended to encourage nuclear energy development. Such "incentives" might better be described as government subsides, which have long been criticized by nuclear industry critics as a waste of taxpayers' money. Unmentioned in the <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN> report were similar subsidies in France; according to the U.S.-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (</FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=22&url=..." target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>5/4/06</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3>), $1 billion a year in government subsidies go to plutonium production alone.<BR><BR>Excluding critical voices allowed grossly misleading information to go unchallenged, as when nuclear executive Lauvergeon claimed, in the segment's conclusion, that "wind and solar are, you know, temporary sources of energy. It works when you have wind, it works when you have sun. No sun, no wind, no energy. You don't want to watch TV only when you have wind." Of course, wind and solar energy are not "temporary" sources of energy; power generated by both can be stored. Airing this sort of misinformation eliminates any real consideration of viable alternatives to nuclear energy.<BR><BR>At one point, Kroft says that "the Bush administration is pushing a nuclear revival." The same could be said for <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN>.<BR><BR><BR><SPAN class=sub_headline>ACTION:</SPAN> <BR>Contact <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>60 Minutes</STRONG></SPAN> to ask why its report on nuclear energy excluded the views of the industry's numerous critics.<BR><BR><BR><BR></FONT><FONT face=Georgia><FONT size=3><SPAN class=sub_headline>CONTACT:</SPAN><BR><SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN> </FONT></FONT><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia><FONT size=3><SPAN class=media_outlet>60 Minutes</SPAN><BR></FONT></FONT></STRONG><A title="" href="mailto:60m@..."><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>60m@...</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT size=3><FONT face=Georgia> <BR>(212) 975-3247</FONT><BR></FONT><BR></P></SPAN><!-- TemplateEndEditable --></td>
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We're having a media call tonight...I'll toss it out there. Why don't we start by - and this is totally off the top of my head - holding simultaneous news conferences (rallies if we can get enough people out) at CBS affiliates who ran the 60 minutes piece (I did NOT see it, but I'll take everyone at their word it was bad?). I'm thinking affiliates in Sacramento, SF and ?? The more the better. But, we don't have to do CBS affiliates. Another target that can make it possible to have at-the-same-time actions (news conferences or rallies) would work. What do you think? Cres GPCA Press Secretary Don Eichelberger wrote:
I hope they were responsive to working together. Seems we have "allies" almost everywhere we look. It is a matter of finding ways to keep each other in each other's loops and, if not "coordinating efforts", at least making a buzz in unison.
Overcoming the other side's media blitz will be a big part of it. I am ccing the state Green Party media guy, Cres, with a heads up that his help would be good to have. The main media strategy at present seems to be writing and responding to blogs (my first blog is www.greenuprising.blogspot.com) and writing letters to editors for newspaper articles that promote nukes
We need to do something newsworthy. We (SF Green Sustainability Working Group) are considering pushing Leno for stronger legislation than a study, including opposing renewal of nuke operating licenses in the state on the same grounds we now oppose new licenses.
I would like to get something happening,
Don
At 07:48 AM 4/19/2007, you wrote:
Great News! We have some allies outside the immediate environmental ncommunity. Thanks for sharing this Don. I'll write to CBS and FAIR.
-Susan
-- In TrueGreen_NoNukes@yahoogroups.com, Don Eichelberger <done7777@...> wrote:
I looked at the 60 Minutes segment and said to myself, "Noooooo! Not 60 Minutes, too!" I had intended to respond to them, but got turned to other things, until I got this alert. In case you want to respond....
Glad FAIR is doing this.
Don
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:27:06 -0700 From: "Richard A. Knee" <rak0408@...> To: "Knee Richard A." <rak0408@...> Subject: Fwd: CBS's Nuclear Revival ------- Forwarded message ------- From: FAIR <fair@...> To: rak0408@... Cc: Subject: CBS's Nuclear Revival Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:34:18 -0700
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3086
Action Alert
CBS's Nuclear Revival 60 Minutes' critic-free boosterism
4/18/07
On April 8, the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes aired a segment about the "resounding success" of the French nuclear power program,
suggesting that
"emission-free" nuclear power might offer an easy solution to the problem of climate change. The report protected this dubious assertion from skeptical scrutiny by failing to quote a single bona fide critic of the nuclear industry.
The segment was titled "Vive Les Nukes," which gave a good indication of the slant it took. Describing it as "an efficient means of producing large amounts of carbon-free energy," correspondent Steve Kroft announced at the top of the segment that nuclear power is "a technology whose time seemed to come and go, and may now be coming again." The notion of a nuclear power renaissance was bolstered by CBS's choice of interview guests—the program spoke only to nuclear power supporters (in France and elsewhere), thereby allowing their rhetoric to go unchallenged.
Guests on the segment were French energy official Pierre Gadonniex, French nuclear industry executive Bertrande Durrande, White House deputy secretary of energy Clay Sell (Bush's "point man on nuclear power"), French nuclear executive Anne Lauvergeon, MIT nuclear researcher Andrew Kadak and David Jhirhad of the World Resources Institute, described as "an environmental think tank in Washington."
Jhirhad was the only potentially balancing source, but he is quoted only to make Kroft's point that "even some environmental groups are taking a second look at nuclear power." This is an emerging line in much of the corporate media (e.g., Washington Post, 4/16/06; New York Times, 2/27/07), though the actual number of green groups embracing nuclear power is quite small. The World Resources Institute receives contributions from several energy companies and other major polluters, information that would have been useful for CBS viewers in evaluating Jhirad's claim that the nuclear industry's "safety record has been pretty good."
The segment's one-sided sourcing was made all the more problematic when the White House's Sell claimed that "no serious person can look at the challenge of greenhouse gases and climate change and not come to the conclusion that nuclear power has to play a significant and growing role in meeting that challenge worldwide." Of course, "serious people" do question precisely that--and CBS should have interviewed them.
Excluding such sources meant excluding important information. While France's nuclear power is portrayed as widely popular, CBS failed to mention large protests held across the country on March 17 (Agence France Presse, 3/17/07) against construction of a new nuclear plant. Nor, in touting the massive nuclear reprocessing plant France has built in Normandy, did the show refer to the radiation it releases into the English Channel (NIRS Nuclear Monitor, 3-4/00) or the cluster of leukemia cases occurring around the plant (British Medical Journal, 1/11/97).
Kroft even adopts industry-friendly language in describing the push to revive U.S. nuclear power, discussing the "financial incentives" and "streamlined regulatory system" intended to encourage nuclear energy development. Such "incentives" might better be described as government subsides, which have long been criticized by nuclear industry critics as a waste of taxpayers' money. Unmentioned in the CBS report were similar subsidies in France; according to the U.S.-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (5/4/06), $1 billion a year in government subsidies go to plutonium production alone.
Excluding critical voices allowed grossly misleading information to go unchallenged, as when nuclear executive Lauvergeon claimed, in the segment's conclusion, that "wind and solar are, you know, temporary sources of energy. It works when you have wind, it works when you have sun. No sun, no wind, no energy. You don't want to watch TV only when you have wind." Of course, wind and solar energy are not "temporary" sources of energy; power generated by both can be stored. Airing this sort of misinformation eliminates any real consideration of viable alternatives to nuclear energy.
At one point, Kroft says that "the Bush administration is pushing a nuclear revival." The same could be said for CBS.
ACTION: Contact 60 Minutes to ask why its report on nuclear energy excluded the views of the industry's numerous critics.
CONTACT: CBS 60 Minutes 60m@... (212) 975-3247
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<table cellpadding="5" cellspacing="3" width="769" border="0"> <tr> <td style="font-family:serif; font-size: 86%;" valign="top" width="526"><!-- TemplateBeginEditable name="content" --><P><FONT color=#8f4444><FONT face=Georgia><FONT size=3><SPAN class=communique_category><a href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=15&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fair.org%2Findex.php%3Fpage%3D3086">http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3086</A> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT color=#8f4444><FONT face=Georgia><FONT size=3><SPAN class=communique_category>Action Alert</SPAN><BR><BR></FONT></FONT></FONT><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia><FONT size=3><SPAN class=main_headline>CBS's Nuclear Revival</SPAN><BR></FONT></FONT></STRONG><FONT face=Georgia><FONT size=3><SPAN class=sub_headline>60 Minutes' critic-free boosterism<BR></SPAN><BR><SPAN class=date>4/18/07</SPAN><BR><BR></FONT></FONT><SPAN class=published-content-body><FONT face=Georgia size=3>On April 8, the <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN> newsmagazine <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>60 Minutes</STRONG></SPAN> </FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=16&url=..."
target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>aired a segment</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3> about the "resounding success" of the French nuclear power program, suggesting that "emission-free" nuclear power might offer an easy solution to the problem of climate change. The report protected this dubious assertion from skeptical scrutiny by failing to quote a single bona fide critic of the nuclear industry.<BR><BR>The segment was titled "Vive Les Nukes," which gave a good indication of the slant it took. Describing it as "an efficient means of producing large amounts of carbon-free energy," correspondent Steve Kroft announced at the top of the segment that nuclear power is "a technology whose time seemed to come and go, and may now be coming again." The notion of a nuclear power renaissance was bolstered by <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN>'s choice of interview guests—the program spoke only to nuclear power supporters (in France and elsewhere), thereby allowing their rhetoric to go unchallenged.<BR><BR>Guests on the segment were French energy official Pierre Gadonniex, French nuclear industry executive Bertrande Durrande, White House deputy secretary of energy Clay Sell (Bush's "point man on nuclear power"), French nuclear executive Anne Lauvergeon, MIT nuclear researcher Andrew Kadak and David Jhirhad of the World Resources Institute, described as "an environmental think tank in Washington."<BR><BR>Jhirhad was the only potentially balancing source, but he is quoted only to make Kroft's point that "even some environmental groups are taking a second look at nuclear power." This is an emerging line in much of the corporate media (e.g., <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>Washington Post</STRONG></SPAN>, </FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=17&url=..."
target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>4/16/06</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3>; <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>New York Times</STRONG></SPAN>, </FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=18&url=..."
target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>2/27/07</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3>), though the actual number of green groups embracing nuclear power is quite small. The World Resources Institute </FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=19&url=..."
target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>receives contributions</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3> from several energy companies and other major polluters, information that would have been useful for <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN> viewers in evaluating Jhirad's claim that the nuclear industry's "safety record has been pretty good."<BR><BR>The segment's one-sided sourcing was made all the more problematic when the White House's Sell claimed that "no serious person can look at the challenge of greenhouse gases and climate change and not come to the conclusion that nuclear power has to play a significant and growing role in meeting that challenge worldwide." Of course, "serious people" do question precisely that--and <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN> should have interviewed them.<BR><BR>Excluding such sources meant excluding important information. While France's nuclear power is portrayed as widely popular, <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN> failed to mention large protests held across the country on March 17 (<SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>Agence France Presse</STRONG></SPAN>, 3/17/07) against construction of a new nuclear plant. Nor, in touting the massive nuclear reprocessing plant France has built in Normandy, did the show refer to the radiation it releases into the English Channel (<SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>NIRS Nuclear Monitor</STRONG></SPAN>, </FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=20&url=..."
target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>3-4/00</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3>) or the cluster of leukemia cases occurring around the plant (<SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>British Medical Journal</STRONG></SPAN>, </FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=21&url=..."
target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>1/11/97</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3>).<BR><BR>Kroft even adopts industry-friendly language in describing the push to revive U.S. nuclear power, discussing the "financial incentives" and "streamlined regulatory system" intended to encourage nuclear energy development. Such "incentives" might better be described as government subsides, which have long been criticized by nuclear industry critics as a waste of taxpayers' money. Unmentioned in the <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN> report were similar subsidies in France; according to the U.S.-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (</FONT><a title="" href="http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=325422084&url_num=22&url=..."
target=_blank><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>5/4/06</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT face=Georgia size=3>), $1 billion a year in government subsidies go to plutonium production alone.<BR><BR>Excluding critical voices allowed grossly misleading information to go unchallenged, as when nuclear executive Lauvergeon claimed, in the segment's conclusion, that "wind and solar are, you know, temporary sources of energy. It works when you have wind, it works when you have sun. No sun, no wind, no energy. You don't want to watch TV only when you have wind." Of course, wind and solar energy are not "temporary" sources of energy; power generated by both can be stored. Airing this sort of misinformation eliminates any real consideration of viable alternatives to nuclear energy.<BR><BR>At one point, Kroft says that "the Bush administration is pushing a nuclear revival." The same could be said for <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN>.<BR><BR><BR><SPAN class=sub_headline>ACTION:</SPAN> <BR>Contact <SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>60 Minutes</STRONG></SPAN> to ask why its report on nuclear energy excluded the views of the industry's numerous critics.<BR><BR><BR><BR></FONT><FONT face=Georgia><FONT size=3><SPAN class=sub_headline>CONTACT:</SPAN><BR><SPAN class=media_outlet><STRONG>CBS</STRONG></SPAN> </FONT></FONT><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia><FONT size=3><SPAN class=media_outlet>60 Minutes</SPAN><BR></FONT></FONT></STRONG><A title="" href="mailto:60m@..."><STRONG><FONT face=Georgia color=#015272 size=3>60m@...</FONT></STRONG></A><FONT size=3><FONT face=Georgia> <BR>(212) 975-3247</FONT><BR></FONT><BR></P></SPAN><!-- TemplateEndEditable --></td>
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