nuclear-news

Lonnie Clark and Shaun McGee on nuclear media reporting in a Post Truth society

I was interviewed by Lonnie Clark from UCTV, Age of Fission on Science media Journalism in a post truth society of click-bait and emotive science based news. I explain how bloggers and amateur journalists, using well sourced data can make a change to the narrative often given out in a PR guided news cycle and make a difference.

We discuss tactics for activists and I comment on how and what caused me to get into Science based Journalism after the BP Gulf oil and Fukushima disasters.

In the Interview I explain how 2 nuclear related stories that the Main Stream “Post Truth” Media have failed to report on correctly. In fact the reportage of these stories is the complete opposite of the facts!

Interview on this You tube channel 56.00 mins;

Misunderstanding science papers and corporate spin

The first article we discussed was from ScienceDaily.com who reported on an anniversary of Chernobyl that wildlife was thriving and in fact that wildlife was adapting to radiation (often called the Hormesis). In my report we showed how wrong they were by just simply contacting the author of the science paper (Prof T. Mousseau ) and posting his reply that clarified his study that was so badly reported on ScienceDaily and their story was picked up by many news outlets;

How to Spin a radioactive bird during Chernobyl remembrance day using Google and Sciencedaily.com

SNIP

“Hopefully there will be some more comprehensive coverage of this latest
paper that includes some discussion of the broader picture that includes
the context for how such “positive” responses have evolved and how they
are not unexpected given the intensity of “unnatural” selection (i.e.
Negative effects) imposed by the radioactive contaminants in the area.”

END SNIP

How to Spin a radioactive bird during Chernobyl rememberance day using Google and Sciencedaily.com

And indeed, a couple of years later Prof T. Mousseau clarified this further by explaining that the antioxidants that were utilised by the small group of birds would stop them evolving in such a scenario as Global warming here in this audio interview and article;

Life after Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear disasters with Prof. T. Mousseau

SNIP

His earlier study on birds with Black pigment showed that some resilience in a small amount of bird species was due to them using antioxidants to protect from genetic damage but at some cost. This might limit the lower antioxidant levels left in these birds might cause problems for them to find mates and deal with environmental changes (such as climate change)
“Organisms can use these antioxidants to the mutational load OR use it to advertise to a mate or defend itself against some other diseases but there is this ultimate trade off that limits the success in one way or another”
Thermal regulation might be another factor due to this imbalance he said.

END SNIP

Link to the 2016 interview with Prof Mousseau here;

Life after Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear disasters with Prof. T. Mousseau

Professor Tsude and his thyroid study attacked but facts clarified

The second article I discussed was concerning the issue of Thyroid Cancers in Fukushima Prefecture.This came about as I was arguing in the comments section of Japan today with three Nuclear Health Physicists whether or not radiation was causing the increasing and statistically significant increases in Childrens Thyroid cancers. Eventually they came up with a number of problems with the meta-analysis  done by Prof. Tsude, so I contacted the Professor with an email and the points they had made and he quickly contacted me back to refute their claims of innacuracys. In the interview I describe how this occurred and also how such questioning would shorten the peer review process, thus, helping the victims of the disaster from biased viewpoints that would delay the nuclear accident victims getting the proper support and compensation they deserves. Here is the article I did documenting that;

SNIP

[EDITORS NOTE; Prof. G Thomas did not contact  Prof Toshihide Tsude

but made her claim that she cast doubt on the study? [Sam McGill said on Japan Times comments (link below)  “…In any case, Gerry Thomas – who doesn’t work for the Science Media Centre – isn’t a nuclear engineer anyway. She focuses on health and radiation. So you’ve got that criticism wrong too. And it’s not just Gerry Thomas who’s cast doubt on Tsuda’s study…..]]

END SNIP

Confirming the Toshihide Tsuda Thyroid study findings in Fukushima – Answering the nuclear lobby’s questions!

Confirming the Toshihide Tsuda Thyroid study findings in Fukushima – Answering the nuclear lobby’s questions!

The video clips are from my interview with Lonnie on the you tube video are from the first Sherlock Holmes 1920`s silent movie and part of a Babe Ruth 1920`s silent movie.

December 23, 2016 - Posted by arclight2011part2 | Uncategorized