Journalistic Malpractice
Fukushima.
And I could stop writing now, because the negligence and utter lack of coverage concerning this continuing news story is criminal. But I won’t, because we’ve got an awesome example of media farce from The Washington Post’s website over the weekend.
Chico Harlan wrote a charming little piece, On Japan’s school lunch menu: A healthy meal, made from scratch. For the normal news consumer, it’s a blistering piece against the type of school lunches American children must endure. But from jump street, it’s a bare faced lie. Here is his opening salvo:
In Japan, school lunches mean a regular meal, not one that harms your health. The food is grown locally and almost never frozen.
Yikes! If awards were given out for journalistic malpractice, Mr. Harlan would be in early contention for the 2013 award. Of course, he means to slam the proliferation of GMO foods in the American diet. Regrettably, he does not seem to grasp exactly what’s going on in the Pacific. JUST LAST WEEK, The Independent in Britain reported on murasoi fish with (brace yourself) over 2,540 times the legal limit (whatever that means) of radiation for seafood. This is not a report from 2011, no, this is from the middle of January, 2013. Right now. Today. As in, this is a continuing global problem that nobody seems to recognize or care about.
Chin up, folks. At least Japanese children are eating well in schools! That’s fresh, local food they’re eating, not processed food (ew!) like American school children are subjected to in schools nationwide. Disregard the fact that last year, Michael Collins at Enviroreporter.com reported a doubling of radiation levels in nori seaweed wraps (that would be a doubling from his previous test), so popular with the sushi crowd. Disregard France24 reporting 40% of children in Japan tested have shown thyroid abnormalities, because the school children get fresh, local food! Rejoice!
Since the conventional press has gone collectively silent on the matter, it has been sites such as Enviroreporter and Enenews.com that have picked up the slack. And since most of the news reading public does not frequent these sites nearly enough, a continuing environmental disaster is cast off to the dust bin of history. Tourists to Japan are proving wiser than the news media, as they’re staying away. In large numbers. This is wise. I wouldn’t eat a sushi wrap off Scarlett Johansson’s fine, bare ass. That’s just me, though.
The major problem here is most folks (not just Americans, but everyone on Planet Earth) are just ignorant to the fact that Fukushima is a continuing environmental disaster. People like Chico Harlan, in glossing over and obscuring the on the ground facts, do nothing to curb this trend. I have to admit, it would take a lot of guts for a reporter at MSNBC or The New York Times or Fox News or The Washington Post to expose this nasty fact. Courage unseen in the news anymore.
For a person to learn these kind of hard facts, they need to seek them out actively. This is one of the grand flaws with internet news: when a case of journalistic malpractice does arise, unless you know what you’re seeking out, you will never know. On the bright side, 50 years from now Godzilla will be a documentary and this guy will be an Olympic weight lifting champion.
Your 2056 Olympic Gold Medal Powerlifter: Toxie!
Until then, we’re going to have to endure the journalistic malpractice we’re seeing more and more with every day. And most people won’t even know they’re being lied to, because the lie of omission is the toughest to recognize.
Rhyme and Reasonable 
January 28, 2013 at 1:02 pm
so what’s the fucking problem with bro.
yeah journalistic malpractise is serious shit, but here in this exact page you’re like hating a lot on japan an almost telling it’s the worse country existing on earth, that is also malpractising things up. think before you write, they have nothing to do but to try and control the most out of a problem they didn’t fetch, it was a natural disaster they have to eat and they control as much as they can on the food they are producing but, man it’s been two years from that, the problem is not increasingly alarming(that is also jaournalistic malpractice, your exagerating things all over)so stop giving a bad reputation to honorable people and write a non partial report over articles you think are not true, but if you’re biased by your redneck shitty american patriotisim taking sides on the most unhealthy corporative criminal food system on earth (yeah the same that makes you american that ugly fat ignominous, ignorant mass of garbage) then you’re the one failing on being a good journalist
fuck you nobody needs this shit
January 28, 2013 at 1:12 pm
I do not see how I say anything bad about the Japanese people. My main gripe is in a report on ‘healthy eating’ in Japanese schools while overlooking the fact the food the children of Japan are eating is contaminated.
But thank you for your illuminating viewpoint!
January 28, 2013 at 2:20 pm
I agree with Suke, though not in the same angry tone. This article basically states that fresh food in Japan is bad, they should import because of the nuclear disaster. Can’t make everyone happy I suppose.
I love information, it should be free. But information is not action. Informing people that the disaster is ongoing does what exactly for these kids eating lunch in Japan?
January 28, 2013 at 3:08 pm
Good point SP. You will note in The Post article no mention is made of any safeguard that the food is not irradiated. They note where the food comes from, but not if it is free of radioactive material.
It’s a classic Catch-22.
Do you throw caution to the wind and serve children cesium laced food or import your food? For that, I do not have an answer.
As for informing people, too few people recognize or realize Fukushima is a continuing problem. That has to change. I don’t have a magic bullet, all I can do is try to help people understand this is an ongoing concern.
January 28, 2013 at 5:10 pm
You’re a typical White moron
February 1, 2013 at 12:09 am
I’m a Japanese.
I bet Japanese school lunch is the best in the world.
Children eat typical Japanese food and the world wide foods.
For example, if world cup soccer is opened this year, children will enjoy the rival coutries foods.
Depends on the towns but every schools has own dietician(s) who make the perfect recipe for children, calcurated calolies and each nutritions.
The parents can know all ingredents.
About the radiation,
dieticians order to the dealers to provide the foods which have
been checked by public association, and submit the papers as evidences.
I’ve worked as a sales person at a food company and promoted to
the dieticians for over 18years.
That’s why I say.
I’ve faced the truth.
I recomend you to go to Japan, talk to the dietician and Japanese children and eat it.
If you need, I will be able to introduce someone.
Thanks.
PS; I tried but sorry my English is not good, hope you understand what I want to say…
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