Improper Divulgence: How Distrust and Poor Reporting Influenced Civilians Views of the Three Mile Island Incident

Improper Divulgence: How Distrust and Poor Reporting Influenced Civilians Views of the Three Mile Island Incident

Oral - Textual or Investigative

This paper looks at how the media impacted the civilian opinion of the United States’ population on the Three Mile Island Incident. I argue that the media outlets reporting on the nuclear incident negatively impacted the public’s perception of the incident, making the disaster appear far worse than what was actually happening. Occurring on March 28, 1979, the meltdown of reactor number two at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, was the worst nuclear incident in United States history. Prior to the meltdown, United States citizens already had exposure to the pros and cons of radiation. Influenced by their experiences with nuclear components before the incident, men, women, and children were conscious of the danger but hopeful for its success. Such fears were reawakened by the incident. Amplified by the poor distribution of information from those in charge of handling the incident, the media presented several, often negative, narratives on what had happened. As citizens generally felt uneasy about the information being distributed by the vast majority of those directly involved, they instead turned to various media outlets for information. Amplified by their pre-existing woes of nuclear elements, many became petrified of the incident and the subsequent radioactive elements that leaked from the facility. Such concerns lead to a sharp rise in anti-nuclear reactor demonstrations. Despite this however, many citizens still advocated for the technology, saying that what had occurred brought to light the true danger of the technology while believing that it could still prove useful to the United States.