Is this even a story?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42488215/ns/us_news-environment

To summarize - at a nuclear plant in Washington, a six-inch flame ignited for one second in a pipe nowhere near anything important at the plant, certainly nowhere near anything nuclear. And yet we have a story on msnbc decrying an 'unusual event'.

I know that given current events, more eyes are trained on the nuclear industry but this just seems sensationalistic and unworthy of a story. In my opinion, this is the kind of story that makes journalists and journalism look bad because it looks like we're just trying to stir up shit that isn't there. Thoughts?

 

I have a close friend who is an engineer at a nuclear plant. For years he has been telling me how upset he and his coworkers get at the shallow, simplified and often inaccurate coverage nuclear power plants get, and he's been getting nosebleeds lately when he reads about these things, saying they're beyond sensationalized and made needlessly scary by the press and politicians.

 

The nosebleeds are probably from radioactive contamination.

 

It's not an event unless Michael Douglas captures secret footage of it.

Think you'll be seeing more stories like this if editorial decisions are based on page clicks?

 

A paper in our area has a nuclear plant within the coverage area. Since the Japan Tsunami, there has been at least one major article in the paper about the local nuclear plant every single day.

90% of the nuclear related content has been panicky and overblown. It's ridiculous.

 

I won't even bring this up with my brother-in-law, who runs shifts at a plant in Pennsylvania.

But then he's an Orioles' fan so we don't talk much