About the nuclear situation in Japan - a request

[LiberalEsto]

It seems like every 10 seconds someone is posting a news item on DU about a new threat at one of Japan's nuclear power plants.

Some of this information being posted is one or two days old, and some is inaccurate. And some things keep being posted over and over.

In the interest of keeping DU reporting accurate and credible, can we all please try to:

1. verify information by checking more than one source

2. post links to your information

3. locate the time this information was first published (to make sure it isn't old)

4. check to see if there are duplicate posts on DU (I've seen the same things posted several times on different days)

I think there is a potentially serious nuclear situation in Japan, but I also don't want DU to sound like a group of alarmists.

[Auggie]

1. K&R

[Dogmudgeon]

2. Happy to rec this

There has been a TON of rumor-based "facts". The Press has had a field day with this, and when it's all over, a lot of people are going to have to explain why they hyped the fear and shorted the science.

:thumbsup:

--d!

[godai]

3. Great idea but, let's see...

In the midst of the terrible catastrophe in Japan, which is nowhere near under control (beyond the serious reactor problems), we need to hope for increasing control of all the problems, with hope for the best solutions now possible.

[sabrina 1]

4. K&R

[hlthe2b]

5. Here's the problem, though I truly echo your sentiment...

The reporting on this is crap. The so-called 24/7 cable news media recycle BS reporting that may not only be out of date, but even previously discounted. Those watching in the wee hours of the morning have difficulty tell if this is pre-recorded or live. Even CNN is repeating broadcasts overnight.

Even the best websites have had contradictory information. Add to the fact that we have pro-industry propagandists in the mix, deliberately putting out false information that may only be contradicted by other TRUE experts attempting to correct via twitter. That happened repeatedly yesterday as Comcast and other corporate media lords put these pro-industry lobbyists on as "expert" opinions.

Good in sentiment... Difficult in practice.

[LiberalEsto]

8. That's exactly why I spent two hours this morning checking

and rechecking information to put together a post on how many nuclear plants and how many reactors were actually having issues. The media was screwing things up completely.

I posted links to everything, and kept updating my original posts as I learned more. I changed information in my post if I found it was incorrect. I realize that not everybody is a professional journalist, as I was for 25 years. But we've got to try harder.

Link to that post:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x632395

[tekisui]

13. Not everyone has two hours to thouroughly check, and seek

to get feed-back and discussion on stories they find.

[hlthe2b]

17. Thank you for doing so...

We also may have issues with intentional purveyors of misinformation seeding pro-industry propaganda here. I know I'm not the only one to think so over a few recent threads. We know this happens...

The quality of reporting on this on tv media, at least, only underscores how horrendous the level of science education may be across the mass spectrum (or at least among those "pretty individuals" who get the newsreader positions). Honestly, it is embarrassing.

[MineralMan]

6. Very good points. I've been seeing old news a lot this morning.

If the story was originally written earlier than today, it's out of date in this fast-moving crisis.

When we find something on a blog or some other source, we should be checking the original source to see when it was written. Odds are it's out of date by the time it hits a blog.

[hunter]

7. Excellent idea.

Thank you.

[phantom power]

9. It's also making it harder to learn about other, much more immediate, problems.

People are dying right now, from lack of water, food, shelter, and from injury.

[meow mix]

10. id like to hear the rumors too, posting police

just sayin

[tekisui]

11. The best way to approach this would probably be to make an ***OFFICIAL***

thread for nuclear updates.

This is the nature of DU. People get on a various times, stories sink and get reposted. Especially with fast changing or unfolding events, it is impossible to avoid duplicates and old news being reposted. The most effective thing to do would be a nuclear thread catch all, regularly updated and kicked.

Posters could easily check the latest on the story without have to search through pages of old posts.

[jpak]

12. That's what I have done from the beginning, and posted in E/E where it doesn't disappear in 2 hours

n/t

[tekisui]

14. Another good recommendation there, to post in E/E.

[Dappleganger]

15. Personally I don't have a problem with one source at this stage

because after using Twitter for awhile I have come to realize that many times those "2nd sources" are in fact just linking back to that one source in their news release, article or blog.

[SidDithers]

16. K&R...nt

Sid

[End Of The Road]

18. K&R

I'm also tired of "what if" postings.

[Rex]

19. I wish all the net nannies would just shut up and leave everyone to

their own design, but I guess some people think they know more about life than others and can't keep their mouths shut. :eyes:

unrec for the usual reasons. I had no idea DU was so full of egotistical people. :eyes:

[LiberalEsto]

20. What I asked is pretty much what DU requests when

posting in Late Breaking News. This is a policy created by Skinner and the others in charge of DU.

I also suggested that posters try to verify information by checking for another source. This can usually be accomplished in a minute or two by using a good search engine.

If you take a look at the replies to my OP, most agree with me.

[Rex]

21. Well that is nice, but you are late and many have said the exact same

thing and as arrogantly as you have too. I guess people MUST make it known that they are the Deciders and all others must know this.

Whatever...enjoy your little ME party with your fellow posters.

[Hannah Bell]

22. thank you. people are posting information that's old, other people react to it

like it's new, no one corrects, everyone gets more confused.

it fills the space with lots of low level/useless information.

people are posting tweets without attribution.

people are posting frankly erroneous information: someone posted that the reactor was in tokyo; a post had fukushima 300 miles from tokyo, etc.

some people are using "meltdown" as though it automatically equated to "chernoboyl".

people are posting things they "heard".

last night i came home & learned that total meltdown was underway & a million were to be evacuated. i was totally freaked out. then i checked and couldn't find anything like that -- it was only some hours after the post.

it's not the same as a du political free for all, it's a crisis.

please be responsible.

[donheld]

23. This should apply to EVERY post about ANY issue.

[Whisp]

24. can I add a #5?

don't lick your lips in glee at every bit of bad news. please?
and bring out the awful jokes.

[SlipperySlope]

25. What do you want DU to be? Wikipedia?

[mopinko]

26. please remember that all of the above goes double in lbn

we have been having a heck of a time keeping lbn on track and within the rules.

a refresher-
check for a time stamp- it must be less than 12 hours old.
check for dupes- especially when there is a fast moving situation, check the content, not just the headline. ie- if it is a reuters that is being picked up by the chicago trib, we will combine that with the source, the reuters story.
check that it is a reliable source- not aunt mamie's blog.
check that it is actually news- no oped, no analysis, no repackaged wrap ups.

thanks.