RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR SCARE: WHEN A RUMOR IS AS GOOD AS A BOMB
By Robert Coalson
On 4-5 November, a wave of panic, fueled apparently by false rumors, swept over the region around the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant in Saratov Oblast, Russian media reported.
The panic reached the cities of Saratov, Samara, Mari-El, Ulyanovsk, Tolyatti, and Penza, as well as many towns and villages in the region, "Nezavisimaya
gazeta" reported on 10 November. At least 10 cases of iodine
poisoning were registered, as panicked locals tried to protect
themselves from the effects of radiation.
As late as 10 November,
official media in the effected cities were working to dispel the
panic and reassure the public. "Mariiskaya pravda" in Mari-El
reported on 10 November that unknown people were still calling around the city warning that a radioactive cloud was approaching and the people should be taking iodine.
Balakovo is a massive plant, generating 28 billion
kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. Its four reactors provide
one-quarter of the energy needs of the Volga Federal District and supply electricity to the Urals and the North Caucasus as well. It generates one-fifth of all of Russia's nuclear power and the construction of two additional reactors at the plant is scheduled for the next five or 10 years, according to "Kommersant-Daily" on 6 November.
Therefore, the appearance on 4 November of a website
supposedly created by "independent journalists" that reported that "four workers have died and 18 others have received burns of various degrees" in an accident on the night of 3-4 November and that "the situation is critical" was enough to start something of a chain reaction of rumor.
(((Nice web angle, eh? I wonder how much money it
cost to do that? Maybe 20 bucks?)))
However, media reports from throughout the region
indicate that anonymous telephone callers posing as Emergency
Situations Ministry workers were calling schools and enterprises and "warning" them of the danger. (((And where are they now, and who were they?)))
"People were terrified and thought it was the end of the
world," Anna Vinogradova, head of a Saratov NGO, told
"Kommersant-Daily" on 6 November. "The entire city went mad."
The panic only abated late on 5 November when presidential envoy to the Volga Federal District Sergei Kirienko was shown on local television touring all four Balakovo reactors.
The chain reaction did not end there, however. On 10
November, the Voronezh-based news agency Moe reported that someone in that city was spreading nearly identical rumors of an accident at the Novovornezhskaya Nuclear Power Plant. The Voronezh Oblast administration was compelled to issue a statement condemning the copycat rumormongers and assuring the public that all was normal at the plant.
(((I wonder how well this would work in an
American context.)))
Prosecutors quickly opened a criminal investigation into the matter and pledged to find the source of the rumors. But the scare set off another chain reaction, as officials and analysts sought to place the blame for the incident. Konstantin Bandorin, deputy chairman of the Saratov Oblast Public Chamber, told a roundtable in Perm on 10 November that the panic is a clear example of "informational terrorism," RosBalt reported. "I hope that the media that spread incorrect information will be held criminally liable," Bandorin said. (((Yeah, better sue that
anonymous website right away! And while you're
at it, shut down the phone system.)))
The government daily "Rossiiskaya gazeta" and other state
media led the clamor of accusations against the media. On 9 November, "Rossiiskaya gazeta" quoted Saratov Oblast Search and Rescue Service head Oleg Mostar as charging bluntly, "This hysteria was fueled by the media." "Some radio stations, without having any official information, broadcast reports of a radioactive cloud moving over the city," he said. The daily also reported that some media outlets were offering speculation on how long it would take the radioactive cloud
to reach Samara.
Federal Atomic Energy Agency spokesman Nikolai Shingarev told ITAR-TASS on 9 November that the media "should have more responsibly handled the spread of information that can cause panic among the
population and should have made sure 100 percent that it was
professionally correct and corresponding to reality."
(((Yeah, but what if your government is blatantly
delusional? "Nuclear safety is one of those liberal
hang-ups of the reality-based community.")))
Shingarev further noted that the media "continued to report false information" even after official statements explained that there was no emergency, indicating the low level of public confidence in such government assurances.
(((Yup.)))
The K&M news agency titled its 9 November analysis of the events "a chain reaction of no confidence in
the authorities," noting that officials were slow to issue
statements, that the statements were formulaic and not reassuring, and that the public – recalling Chornobyl and other cases – is inclined to disregard such statements in any case.
(((Once bitten, twice shy.... and people wonder why
the British worry about genetically altered food.)))
As recently as
September, the government and state-controlled federal media admittedthat official statements intentionally downplayed the number of hostages taken at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, in order to avoid setting off panic and ethnic conflict in the region.
(...)
