Knoxville News Sentinel Editorial

[Michael Stabin <stabin@npd.ufpe.br>]

> Knoxville News Sentinel Editorial, May 29, 2000: It's time for justice:

I might suggest also that it's "time for truth" - but that you will rarely
find it printed on the pages of this paper.

>      This newspaper has covered pollution problems at the Department of
>  Energy's Oak Ridge facilities the way other newspapers cover the police
>  beat.  Daily.  Weekly.  Monthly, Year in and year out.  Down through the
>  decades.
>      The accretion of horror stories through the years

many of which were "hypothesized" by News Sentinel staff, never
corroborated, but left nonetheless to remain in the public mind.

>      It is breathtaking to contemplate the casual indifference or
ignorance
>  which led workers being put at risk and the natural environment raped.

It is even more breathtaking to see the stark contrast between the filth and
waste in many sectors of industrial Knoxville (for which they seem to have
little concern) and the real beauty of the Oak Ridge environs.  The "natural
environment" in Oak Ridge is far cleaner than that of Knoxville; a casual
drive around both cities can quickly reveal that fact.  Not to mention the
difference in levels of crime (which could be considered to be another
"pollutant").  The Noise Sentinel, as with many papers located near nuclear
installations or national labs, seemed to have a particular agenda for
talking down about Oak Ridge and scaring the local citizens of Knoxville
with its stories.  Its credibility is poor among anyone who knows what is
and is not going on.  Letters to the editor complaining about its poor
reporting on matters related to radiation and health were common.
Unfortunately, among much of the populace of East Tennessee, who do not know
better, this is their main source of (mis)information.  This editorial is a
"breathtaking" example of journalistic arrogance, and not much more.


Michael Stabin, PhD, CHP
Departamento de Energia Nuclear/UFPE
Av. Prof. Luiz Freire, 1000 - Cidade Universitaria
CEP 50740 - 540
Recife - PE
Brazil
Phone 55-81-271-8251 or 8252 or 8253
Fax  55-81-271-8250
E-mail stabin@npd.ufpe.br

"Quantum Mechanics: The dreams stuff is made of"
- Steven Wright




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