Chuck Todd sat in today for David Gregory. He certainly didn't rock any boats. I thought that GE's influence over NBC was clear in their pick of a nuclear "expert" to comment on MTP. They picked a guy from the NEI, the nuclear industry lobbying group, as their sole interview about the nuclear issues in Japan at the moment, which are substantial.

I feel pretty sure,although I don't know and it's just a guess, that General Electric, which owns NBC and also produced the reactors which are having the trouble now, influenced NBC to use the NEI rep for their interview on MTP. Todd did say that the guy was "industry" but didn't go anymore into why their interview on the nuclear situation in Japan was so one sided.

NPR on All Things Considered took an even more reserved view of the nuclear situation in Japan, elevating the other problems, such as the lack of housing and food, which no doubt are very urgent. But it seemed obvious to me that they were holding back, probably because of the threat that republicans are posing to their funding. They simply don't want to be seen as being "too liberal" and reporting that the nuke problems in Japan may be more worse than better plays into that perception, even if it is true.

The thing that is true, and which has been reported in some media, is that no one really knows what is going on, because it's too dang radioactive around the fuel cores in the compromised reactors to send a person in there to see. All they do is "measure" the radiation and extrapolate the situation from that. But we know from past history that we can't rely on the reports from the plants about what is going on there.