Global Voices — “Ground Zero at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa”
Posted by Matt Dioguardi on July 26th, 2007
Chris Salzberg has an excellent entry at Global Voices regarding the recent problems at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant:
Japan: Ground Zero at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa
Of particular note in this entry are comments by Diet Member Kondo Masamichi of the Social Democratic Party that Chris has translated from Japanese to English.
Kondo Masamichi actual site is here. If you check out his site you can see many photos of damaged caused by the earthquake. Of particular interest is his photos at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, a couple of which were used for previous entries at this blog.
July 28th, 2007 at 7:09 am
Japan accuses foreign media of exaggerating reports on radioactive leakage… or something like that
I thought this article was interesting. But the attitude of the Foreign Ministry is really frustrating… I know they don’t like free press, that’s why they set up the press clubs, right? But now they’re trying to impose that system on foreign media. Well, good luck with that. We won’t see the death of investigate journalism just that soon.
July 28th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Japan blames foreign media over ‘inaccurate’ nuke damage reports
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070727/kyodo/d8qkv1io0.html
Not sure if that’s the same link as above, but I am in full agreement with Yoshua. MOFA needs to grow up and either learn how to conduct proper press conferences with the foreign meida, or else buck up and make information more freely available so the speculation will stop.
July 28th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
On the other hand, Ken, wouldn’t it be nice if the AP, Reuters, newsmags, and, most of all, the BBC would send correspondents over who were capable of reporting on Japan instead of the clueless twerps that now populate the FCCJ.
July 29th, 2007 at 7:47 am
Ken,
The article does not spell out what the specific grievances there are. I reviewed most of the AP and Reuters articles. They seemed fine to me. What are the specific reports that were in error?
Also, the article complains about tourists not coming. Well, you know what? If I had to place a bet, I’d say we’ve been given the truth in as much as there have been no serious radiation leaks. That is what has been said, and it is probably true. But you know what else, why gamble? The nuclear industry has lied in the past to us, so why should we believe them now. So while I don’t regard myself as someone who is easily manipulated by the media, I also would cancel a vacation to Niigata, even if I had already paid for it in advance. Why take chances?
Garrett,
It is probably to true to say that some of the foreign reporters in Japan would benefit from having more knowledge about Japan in general and better language ability. This is an easy statement to make because it is true for all of us. However, what specific errors if any, did reporters make over the nuclear power plant issue?