News Zero

The New York Times and the Bomb

By: Beverly Keever

Narrated by: Kaci Richter

This flashback to the dawn of the atomic-bomb age arrives as fears of a renewed arms race and of the advent of nuclear terror persists. In a first-of-its-kind across-time investigation, this case study documents how The New York Times almost singlehandedly shaped news and public perceptions beginning 60 years ago that helped the US government birth the acceptance of the most destructive man-made force ever created.

In what the author calls "News Zero", this world-class newspaper omitted or obscured the defining and deadly feature of atomic bombs: radiation and radioactivity. News Zero is about radiation and radioactivity kept in the dark for years to the unsuspecting lay public, out-of-the-loop opinion leaders, at-risk production workers, US servicemen, and Pacific Islanders.

©2004 Beverly Deepe Keever (P)2022 Beverly Deepe Keever