These are the headlines at The Drudge Report this morning:
But when you click on "BAIL: LAST WORKERS ABANDON NUKE PLANT" this is the story you get -- Japan Prepares To Restart Work At Nuclear Plant:
FUKUSHIMA, Japan - Japan ordered emergency workers to withdraw from its stricken nuclear complex Wednesday amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors. Hours later, officials said they were preparing to send the team back in.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the workers, who had been dousing the reactors with seawater in a frantic effort to stabilize their temperatures, had no choice but to pull back from the most dangerous areas.
"The workers cannot carry out even minimal work at the plant now," he said Wednesday morning, as smoke billowed above the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex. "Because of the radiation risk we are on standby."
Later, an official with Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the plant, said the team had withdrawn about 500 yards (meters) from the complex, but were getting ready to go back in.
... Radiation levels had gone down by later Wednesday, but it was not immediately clear if the workers had been allowed back in, or how far away they had withdrawn. The workers at the forefront of the fight -- a core team of about 180 -- had been regularly rotated in and out of the danger zone to minimize their radiation exposure.
Meanwhile, officials in Ibaraki prefecture, just south of Fukushima, said radiation levels were about 300 times normal levels by late morning. While those levels are unhealthy for prolonged periods, they are far from fatal.
So instead of a scene reminiscent of the end of a James Bond movie, where workers frantically flee as the nuclear reactor hidden in Dr. No's bauxite mine explodes (gosh, who cleaned up the mess after that ???), we simply have a routine safety precaution where workers were withdrawn when the dosimeters start getting a little warm.
I know, I know -- it's the job of the news media to sell hype. But really Matt, you can do a lot better than this.
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Filed under:
Energy, Media, Media Whores
Tags: Fukushima, Japan, meltdown, Nuclear power, radiation
Comments (10)
Drudge lost relevance aroun... (Below threshold)1. Posted by jwehman | March 16, 2011 8:36 AM | Score: -1 (3 votes cast)
Drudge lost relevance around the time Lewinsky was mopping up Clinton. I haven't frequented his site ever. He may swing conservative, but he's only about hype and hyperbole, and really is nothing more than an online National Enquirer.
1. Posted by jwehman | March 16, 2011 8:36 AM |
Score: -1 (3 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2011 08:36
2. Posted by DJ Drummond | March 16, 2011 10:44 AM | Score: 4 (6 votes cast)
I watched "Nightline" last night, and they actually used the word "fallout" - repeatedly - in describing conditions in Japan, sometimes miles from the reactor.
The show also asked 'could it happen in America', as if the U.S. was also an island built on a chain of old volcanoes.
They'd need serious remedial work to reach the level of morons.
2. Posted by DJ Drummond | March 16, 2011 10:44 AM |
Score: 4 (6 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2011 10:44
3. Posted by GarandFan | March 16, 2011 10:53 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Chicken Little would be proud!
3. Posted by GarandFan | March 16, 2011 10:53 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2011 10:53
4. Posted by PBunyan | March 16, 2011 11:24 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
I once heard an evil communist say: "never let a crisis go to waste". I guess the corollary to that is: "and if there is no crisis, make one up..."
4. Posted by PBunyan | March 16, 2011 11:24 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2011 11:24
5. Posted by taylor | March 16, 2011 2:26 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I'm not letting go I'm not letting go!!
5. Posted by taylor | March 16, 2011 2:26 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2011 14:26
6. Posted by Jim Addison | March 16, 2011 2:41 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Hard to blame Drudge - the relentless hype has been spewing from the networks, including Fox News, since the first problem at the nuclear plant became known.
Allahpundit at Hot Air has been soiling himself so regularly as to require truckloads of adult diapers to be delivered.
6. Posted by Jim Addison | March 16, 2011 2:41 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2011 14:41
7. Posted by Rance | March 16, 2011 4:44 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I know you all hate to admit that they can do anything right, but this morning, NPR was reporting the story correctly. Whoda thunk they wouldn't have put a liberal slant on it.
7. Posted by Rance | March 16, 2011 4:44 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2011 16:44
8. Posted by Kenny | March 16, 2011 5:36 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Rance,
Really? Given both your and NPRs demonstrated failure to report on anything honestly, I can't just accept your claim that they reported the story correctly.
Sorry, go peddle your BS elsewhere.
8. Posted by Kenny | March 16, 2011 5:36 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2011 17:36
9. Posted by dnb | March 16, 2011 8:03 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
It would be nice to get reliable, honest information, esp. when you have a son teaching English in Japan. Too bad it's so hard to find.
9. Posted by dnb | March 16, 2011 8:03 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on March 16, 2011 20:03
10. Posted by Brucepall | March 17, 2011 3:48 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
As long as you keep in mind that they are: Emotional prostitutes, looking for facts to support their story... then it makes sense.
10. Posted by Brucepall | March 17, 2011 3:48 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on March 17, 2011 03:48