RE: TMI 20th Anniversary Event to Feature Federal, State and

["Migliore, Charles W" <Charles.W.Migliore@nspco.com>]

The public's distrust is fed in part by the blatant press bias against
anything nuclear. A prime example of this bias is the story 60 Minutes did
on Clinton Power Station a few years ago. It was shown to us as a part of
contractor GET at another plant, to drive home the point that we were not to
talk to the press ourselves, but refer them to the official channels.
Believe me, after seeing the 'edited for television' version of the
interview followed by the uncut version, the bias was clear.

Charles Migliore RRPT

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Sandy Perle [SMTP:sandyfl@earthlink.net]
> Sent:	Thursday, March 18, 1999 9:50 PM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	Re: TMI 20th Anniversary Event to Feature Federal, State and
> 
> > But we have no basis to think we would do a better job communicating
> > with the public. 
> 
> Jim,
> 
> I believe that we do in fact communicate better than we did during 
> TMI. Except that whatever we say, falls on deaf ears. The fact that 
> the public doesn't want to believe us has no correlation in our 
> ability to communicate effectively. Effective communication means 
> that there is a facilitated effort to make those whom we are 
> addressing to understand what we are saying. The fact is, there is 
> an understanding, yet they chose not to believe what they have 
> been told. Comes down to basic paradigms. And until the 
> paradigms change, we might as well be communicating with walls.
> 
> One of my accountabilities during emergency exercises was to 
> support the Emegency Control Officer at the EOF and ENC, with 
> respect to risk assessment communication in the ENC. We all had 
> media training, to assist in communicating more effectively. Having 
> attended my first exercise in 1975, I saw a significant improvement 
> after TMI, up until I left the utility at the end of 1996. I do believe 
> that communication is better, not only in situations involving 
> radiation and releases of radioactive materials, but in all kinds of 
> briefings, such as airline disasters, the current Amtrak accident 
> and war coverage. Communication is better. The primary obstacle 
> we are faced with, in our industry, is the predominant distrust by 
> the public. There are many reasons for that, and some of the blame 
> rests with us, and a lot of it is based on other factors.
> 
> But as far as communication, I believe that many of us do that very 
> well, every day, and especially when dealing with the public. 
> 
> ------------------------
> Sandy Perle
> E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
> Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205
> 
> ************************************************************************
> The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
> information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html