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RE: 60 minutes - Yucca Mountain



Never said he was.  Think about the reports of the

sinking of the USS MAINE was reported and the

consequences.  News is not history.



--- "George J. Vargo" <vargo@physicist.net> wrote:

> And Don Hewitt is NO Ben Bradlee!

> 

> George J. Vargo, Ph.D., CHP

> Senior Scientist

> MJW Corporation

> http://www.mjwcorp.com

> 610-925-3377

> 610-925-5545 (fax)

> vargo@physicist.net

> 

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

> [mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu] On Behalf

> Of John Jacobus

> Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2003 12:56 PM

> To: George J. Vargo; 'Stabin, Michael';

> RuthWeiner@AOL.COM; 'RADSAFE'

> Subject: RE: 60 minutes - Yucca Mountain

> 

> 

> For what it is worth, I do not try to get all of my

> knowledge of events from one source.  I also not

> expect the first reporting to be the most accurate,

> whether it is a breaking story or a researched piece

> as on "60 Minutes."  There is always something that

> is

> added, or discovered, or reinterpreted.  As Ben

> Bradlee said, "News is the rough draft of history."

> 

> "60 Minutes" certainly has its place.  It gets

> people

> to think and respond.  It certainly has influenced

> the

> people on this list.

> 

> --- "George J. Vargo" <vargo@physicist.net> wrote:

> > Mike is absolutely correct.  60 Minutes is

> > entertainment and NOT news.  That

> > said, I think that they have contributed

> > significantly to public discourse

> > in this country, sometimes for good, sometimes

> not.

> > The 60 Minutes

> > producers know what buttons to push to get public

> > reaction and do their job

> > very well.  Some of their stories on topics such

> as

> > flawed or faulty

> > consumer products may have even saved some lives

> by

> > getting unsafe products

> > out of the marketplace.  Other stories are,

> > admittedly, just gonzo

> > journalism.

> > 

> > Yes, I remember the moral outrage that I felt when

> > they attacked nuclear

> > power in the 1980s. Oh the inaccuracies!

> > 

> > I try to put some emotional distance between the

> > stories  -- and remember

> > that  -- they're just stories -- someone's

> personal

> > synthesis of observation

> > processed through their own beliefs and biases.

> > 

> > Personally, I've found some of the recent stories

> > about lapses and

> > vulnerabilities in homeland security, civil rights

> > violations against

> > naturalized citizens from unpopular countries, and

> > other alleged excesses of

> > government, to be timely, thought-provoking and

> > certainly worthy of public

> > attention.  I still reserve the right to exercise

> my

> > remote!

> > 

> > George J. Vargo, Ph.D., CHP

> > Senior Scientist

> > MJW Corporation

> > http://www.mjwcorp.com

> > 610-925-3377

> > 610-925-5545 (fax)

> > vargo@physicist.net

> > 

> > 

> > -----Original Message-----

> > From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu 

> > [mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu] On

> Behalf Of Stabin, 

> > Michael

> > Sent: Monday, November 03, 2003 7:57 AM

> > To: RuthWeiner@AOL.COM; RADSAFE

> > Subject: RE: 60 minutes - Yucca Mountain

> > 

> > 

> > > -----Original Message-----

> > > From: RuthWeiner@AOL.COM

> > >

> > > It's impossible to know what was edited out....

> > > Because I am very familiar with the project, I

> > recognize the

> > > bias and distortion in the program.  It makes me

> > wonder about

> > > the 60 minutes and similar programs for which I

> am

> > not so

> > > familiar with the subject matter.  Are they

> really

> > biased

> > > also?  I think they probably are.

> > 

> > For the most part, yes. I stopped watching 60

> > Minutes in the early 1980's

> > when they did a piece on safety issues and cost

> > overruns at an Illinois (I

> > think) nuclear plant. Officials from the plant

> > videotaped along with the 60

> > Minutes crew, and they later circulated a tape

> > showing the gross distortions

> > that were due to film left on the cutting room

> > floor. I realized then that I

> > could not trust anything on that show that I

> DIDN'T

> > know about intimately,

> > since something I did know something about was so

> > badly distorted, for

> > political or entertainment purposes (or both). I

> > watched a journalists'

> > roundtable some years later in which a journalism

> > scholar pointed out that

> > these shows are indeed strictly entertainment, and

> > should not be considered

> > news in any form. Mike Wallace was surprised and

> > upset by the opinion of a

> > man he obviously respected, but could not refute

> his

> > point.

> > 

> > 60 Minutes also did a terrible hatchet job on

> > someone I knew personally, a

> > nuclear medicine physician from Oak Ridge of very

> > high moral character and

> > professional excellence, during the

> Clinton/O'Leary investigations 

> > into human uses of radiation in the 1940's and

> 1950's.

> > The piece was

> > reprehensible, and I heard several reports from

> ORAU

> > employees of the

> > rudeness of the 60 Minutes staff, particularly

> > Leslie Stahl. It was amusing,

> > however, when they asked employees to duct tape

> > plastic over the air vents

> > leading into one of the rooms near the old whole

> > body irradiator at ORAU, in

> > case any "old radiation" was still drifting around

> > in there.

> > 

> > Mike

> > 

> > 

> > Michael G. Stabin, PhD, CHP

> > Assistant Professor of Radiology and Radiological

> > Sciences

> > Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences 

> > Vanderbilt University 

> > 1161 21st Avenue South

> > Nashville, TN 37232-2675 

> > Phone (615) 343-0068

> > Fax   (615) 322-3764

> > Pager (615) 835-5153

> > e-mail     michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu 

> > internet   www.doseinfo-radar.com

> > 

> >  

> >

>

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> > 

> > 

> >

>

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=== message truncated ===





=====

+++++++++++++++++++

"One test result is worth one thousand expert opinions."

Wernher von Braun



-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com



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