More than 4,000 people are killed in the United States each year by electricity. Yet it is doubtful if anyone in today's society considers turning on a light switch a high risk action. The 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant caused no deaths or injuries and will have no effect on future generations, but the fear instilled in the public by the news media made it appear that a major catastrophe had occurred. On the other hand, it is well known that the smoking of cigarettes and the drinking of alcohol are a major cause of birth defects, and the long term consequences of these activities result in more than 350,000 deaths each year. This is a real, no imagined, catastrophe that threatens the health and curtails the life expectancy of the young and impressionable.
Fear gets people's attention.
Prediction of an impending disaster, no matter how small the probability, is much more newsworthy than reassuring the public that the real dangers are small. Even though the predictions of catastrophe prove to be grossly in error, the fear generated lingers on. This is particularly true if the news media continues speculating on why their initial predictions went astray, attempting to convince the public that it was lucky this time but perhaps not the next. Dr. Robert L. Dupont, a nationally known practicing psychiatrist with wide experience in both print and broadcast media, analyzed an aggregate of thirteen hours of videotaped news broadcasts on nuclear power. His scrutiny of the topic led him to observe that the major television networks have injected fear, intentionally or otherwise, into an already fear-inspiring subject.