Media Sensationalism: BBC vs. Huffington Post

Screen captures compare how BBC and the Huffington Post headlined yesterday’s aerial water dumping operation:

[hat tip to japanfun311]

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23 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - March 18, 2011 at 9:32 am

Categories: General Japan Tags:

flowby

Both are correct.
- Jim
  
  I agree… The need to fallback to Helicopters which are seemingly ineffective, and using hoses to try and spray the reactors to cool them is obviously not the ideal approach. It is an emergency measure because things have gotten out of control.
Craig

You don’t think this is a desperate measure? You must be about the only one then
http://theinconvenienttruthonwhaling.blogspot.com/ kujirakira

BBC looks fine to me, HuffPo’s “avoid full meltdown” is sensationalism.
- Kane
  
  From what I understand, HuffPost doesn’t have any reporters of their own in Japan. Therefore, the bulk of their news about the events in Japan are reports taken off of newswire services and other media outlets. HuffPost news is only as good as the sources they take from. With that said, HuffPost is notoriously known for their intellectually dishonest and sensationalist headlines. Such headlines provide the clicks.
Him Royd

I’m glad I wasn’t the only one that noticed this. The other headline on HP today was something like “Out of Hope” with that same heli picture. Turns out the quote was from a obachan at an evacuation site talking about something else.
- Montsan
  
  Yeah, HP’s headlines have been getting worse in the past few days, unfortunately. They’re still a lot better than a lot of the sensationalism and blatant ignorance I’m seeing on other news sites and shows, but this is still too much.
J in Tokyo

Sensationalism sells. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3TM9GL2iLI&feature=player_embedded
http://whatjapanthinks.com Ken Y-N

Here’s a good one from the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/world/asia/18intel.html?_r=1

Headline: “Radiation Spread Seen”

First paragraph: “…the worst contamination has not spread beyond the 19-mile range of highest concern established by Japanese authorities…”
F.Haruhi

Let’s just ignore HuffPost from now on and read the real news providers. That would’ve made this entire conversation moot.
flowby

The H.P ‘s headline is tame.

This morning I glanced at an Australian headline “on a suicide mission” re the nuclear plant workers. How loaded is that?

Needless to say I didn’t read the article.

I would assume most people on here are capable of filtering the baby from the bathwater.
Jordan

HuffPo has been ridiculously slow in their reporting and at times very much wrong.

Almost all of their reporting has been extreme and alarmist.

Disgusting.
- Montsan
  
  I think that applies to most U.S.-based news organizations, unfortunately. Al Jazeera and BBC News seem to be the most reliable foreign sources, as usual.
  
  (Though I still think Huffington Post is generally doing better than most of the big U.S. news sources.)
  - andrew
    
    Al Jazeera English I hear was setup by ex BBC staff.
    Still I would say BBC is not focusing enough on the facts and what the real disaster is.
    I remember when I first listened to NHK English radio a few years back and how sober the reporting was. The BBC used to be like that many years ago.
    
    I think there should be a test at the end of this about Nuclear plants and what happen here.
    I bet most people round the world have learnt nothing and have just been stirred by the headlines and tension.
  - http://hanlonsrzr.blogspot.com Mr. S.
    
    Exactly the two I have relied on.
Lee

The Huffington Post is not a real news organization. It is widely discounted as left wing propaganda, funded by George Soros who has a vested interest in collapsing any and all economies. They will hype anything that suits their left wing agenda, including lobbying against nuclear power. They arent even worthy of comparing to a real news organization for the purposes of this article. Just wanted to make you aware.
- dbest
  
  Fox News is not a real news organization. It is widely discounted as right wing propaganda funded by the Koch brothers who have a vested interest in trashing democracy, including lobbying against unionization. They aren’t even worhty of comparing to a real news organization for the purpose of pointing out how ridiculous you sound. Just wanted to make you aware. It’s called projection.
  - manimal
    
    It’s ok you both sound ridiculous to me. They are both opposite ends of the extremist agenda. But really what do unions have to do with democracy? I was in a union once and I had no choice but to join, didn’t even get a vote.
- jcpb
  
  Huffington Post is mildly believable compared to Fox News; the latter is pure fabricated bullshit 24/7 no matter how you slice it.
  - manimal
    
    Mildly believable is based on what people choose to believe, not reality and facts. They are just as bad as drudge, in the opposite direction. All sensationalism and agenda pushing. All news these days is biased and uses dubious tactics to grab headlines. Fox is loaded with BS but keep in mind most of that comes from the entertainment shows they air like ORielly and that kind of on-sense. Obviously opinions does not equal factual news. By the same token though you would have to lump CNN in with them for shows like Anderson Cooper. I don’t think Fox airs in Japan but CNN sure does and they have been full of BS especially on the nuclear issue lately.
    - jcpb
      
      “keep in mind most of that comes from the entertainment shows they air like ORielly and that kind of on-sense”
      
      1. except they are not entertainment shows.
      2. a disturbing proportion of the American population believes everything that is said in these “entertainment shows”.
      3. recent political donations made by the company turned all red, blue and green representation were absent.
- http://hanlonsrzr.blogspot.com Mr. S.
  
  Lee, you know what is the most effective non-partisan lobbying against nuclear power? Fukushima. Go back to your bunker.
MTiffany

What? No screen grab from the Huffington Post boldly (I daresay gleefully) proclaiming a “nuclear explosion” in Japan? Because early in the crisis that was an actual headline.

Media Sensationalism: BBC vs. Huffington Post

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