Re: Saturday report on National Public Radio (NPR) on humanradiation -Reply

[Joyce Davis <JOYCED@DNFSB.GOV>]

>>> Bob Flood <bflood@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>  3/4/97, wrote >>

>>BRAVO, DR. COHEN, FOR A SUPERB RESPONSE TO THE NPR PIECE.

NPR's one-sided presentation is a fine example of what I mean when I
talk
about the difference between a reporter and a journalist. A reporter,
as in
in this case, simply records information provided by the person with
the
agenda, and replays it on the air - no critical evalution of the
material,
no verification of claims, no opposing views or claims. Usually, a
reporter
doesn't even have to go find a story - the person with a specific
agenda
will contact the reporter. How many such pieces have you seen where
the
news item consisted solely of information provided by a person who
spoke on
condition of anonymity? A journalist would have sought balance and
placed
the spotlight on more than one person's claims.<<

I join in the Bravo to Dr. Cohen, but Bob Flood's comments deserve to
be seen by NPR too.  I hope he will send them on to NPR.  I hope many
other radsafers will do the same, in this and future cases.  We
should do more than complain to each other (preach to the choir). 
One of my New Year's resolutions is to talk back to the world when I
can.  How about you guys ?

Only the opinion of J P Davis
joyced@dnfsb.gov