{"id":2032,"date":"2012-01-24T03:04:19","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T09:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/?p=2032"},"modified":"2012-03-29T23:38:32","modified_gmt":"2012-03-30T05:38:32","slug":"lessons-from-chernobyl-and-fukushima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/24\/lessons-from-chernobyl-and-fukushima\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Lessons from Chernobyl and Fukushima – Lesson 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Lesson 1 From Chernobyl and Fukushima \u2013 \u00a0Media & Crisis Fatigue<\/h1>\n
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Chernobyl in Ukrainian Art began in earnest only decades after the disaster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I was invited to attend and speak at the Conference for a Nuclear Power Free World 2012, in Yokohama on January 14^{th<\/sup> and 15^{th<\/sup>.\u00a0\u00a0 I am not a scientist, nor a model activist, but what I could share was what I learned from the survivors* of Chernobyl.\u00a0 On the 15^{th<\/sup>, I presented these impressions in the session, \u201cLessons from Chernobyl and Fukushima\u201d.<\/p>\n}}}
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Lesson 1 – \u00a0Media & Crisis Fatigue<\/h1>\n
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Lessons from Chernobyl and Fukushima – Same Headlines for 25 Years<\/h2>\n
In an effort to maintain interest in the disaster media will gravitate toward the most shocking stories–and then stay there.\u00a0 In the case of nuclear accidents the hot topics are almost inevitably:\u00a0 disease (cancer) and mutation.\u00a0 These are very valid concerns, but overwhelm other important messages and communication channels. \u00a0How Western and Eastern media covers the issue has nuances, but is generally in the same tone.<\/p>\n
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Collage of Images & Headlines Found in the Top 20 English, Spanish, and Portuguese Language Search Engine Results for Chernobyl 25 Years Later<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Collage of the top 25 Results from Russian and Ukrainian Online Media (Note the photoshopped cat!!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Lessons from Chernobyl and Fukushima – The Effects of Media on Society<\/h2>\n
Hinging media coverage on the most sensationalist aspects of the tragedy leads to:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0Reader fatigue and eventual indifference<\/span>. \u00a0Too much of dramatic and painful \u00a0story causes people to tune out. \u00a0Lasting empathy (if one subscribes to the Simulation Theory of Empathy) starts with shared situations and emotions, and grows through common experiences. \u00a0In practice this means offering readers “morsels” of the situation in a way they can assimilate and then act on. \u00a0The loss of a home, a pet, and a job, and the angst this creates are more accessible topics and can lead to direct ways of engaging readers’ help. To some these topics may seem banal, \u00a0but not everybody can directly and consistently relate to the pain of disease and physical abnormality.<\/p>\n
2. Drowning alternative communication outlets<\/span>. \u00a0 Part of collective social healing in any trauma requires venting and exploring of emotion. \u00a0In Chernobyl, the political and social dynamics conspired to keep most dialogue other than international media (with its corresponding tone) quiet. \u00a0The result was an outright disbelief in media combined with indifference brought on by fatigue with the topic. This in turn sapped momentum form other platforms that could promote discussion and reconstruction.\u00a0 Examples include:\u00a0 visual and performing arts, support groups for survivors, job listings for survivors, community journals\/websites etc. \u00a0Many of these platforms emerged in Ukraine only decades later, and their absence compounded the social fallout caused by the disaster.<\/p>\n
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Chernobyl in Ukrainian Art began in earnest only decades after the disaster (Photograph taken in the abandoned town of Pripyat 7km from Reactor #4)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
3. Weakening of (an already fragile) self-esteem among survivors.<\/span>\u00a0 Headlines stressing bleak expectations for survivors dampens their faith in re-building their lives.\u00a0 There is the possibility to have a life without cancer and other health issues.<\/p>\n
Lessons From Chernobyl and Fukushima – The Vanity Fair Affair<\/h2>\n
Is there a correlation between radiation and physical deformities?\u00a0 Of course.\u00a0 Are all physical deformities after a nuclear leak directly attributable to radiation? No. So why do this–particularly if the relationship between subject and topic is unclear or unestablished?<\/p>\n
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Controversial Photograph by James Nachtwey in Vanity Fair<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Vanity Fair is already treading the fine line of sensationalism in their recent article on Fukushima.\u00a0 They included a picture of a disabled man being cared for near Fukushima.\u00a0 It is unlikely the radiation leak from Fukushima lead to the man\u2019s disability, so why include the picture?\u00a0 The tenuous link seems to be the care-giver is working in a radiated zone, but that is deep in the text and requires hunting.<\/p>\n
It smacks of unnecessary sensationalism. \u00a0I am glad to see I am not the only one who sees it this way. \u00a0What do you think?<\/p>\n
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Criticism of Vanity Fair and James Nachtwey on Facebook - https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/Foreignvolunteersjapan\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
* I use the word, \u201csurvivor\u201d loosely to identify those who were either directly exposed during the accident, exposed as liquidators, evacuated, or had family who was a liquidator.\u00a0 I collected testimony from over 200 people, personally, via email, and via social media while in Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lesson 1 From Chernobyl and Fukushima \u2013 \u00a0Media & Crisis Fatigue I was invited to attend and speak at the Conference for a Nuclear Power Free World 2012, in Yokohama on January 14th and 15th.\u00a0\u00a0 I am not a scientist, nor a model activist, but what I could share was what I learned from the … <\/p>\n
Read More “Four Lessons from Chernobyl and Fukushima – Lesson 1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[477],"tags":[185,492,49,509],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2032"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2032"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2044,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2032\/revisions\/2044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smithjan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}