BUT NOT THE WHOLE TRUTH

"The Republic is in the most serious situation since World War II," said the statement by the 34 scientists, including 11 Nobel Prize winners, mentioned in our editorial. "Contrary to the scare publicity given to some mistakes that have occurred, no appreciable amount of radioactive material has escaped from any commercial US power reactor... We can see no reasonable alternative to an increased use of nuclear power to satisfy our energy needs. . ."

The document is remarkable not only for its contents, but also for the 34 illustrious names signed underneath. But the boob-tube moguls did not think so, and they withheld it from their 50 million viewers. You, I, and other riff-raff are allowed to pay them at the rate of $1,000 a second, but they decide what we are allowed to see. CBS filmed the briefing by Nobel Laureate Hans Bethe, but never mentioned the statement that had preceded it; instead, it reported another of Nader's warnings on nuclear power, and this was followed by a filmed report which raised questions about the economics, reliability and safety of nuclear power - leaving them unanswered, as though the answers were not known.

NBC, in an hour-long "documentary" on nuclear energy, not once mentioned the appeal; instead, they kept returning to Dr. Kendall, spokesman for the Union of Concerned Scientists, "a small, but influential group. " How influential ? Extremely; the networks trumpet out every piece of his misinformation. How small? Nobody knows; it keeps its membership secret, and a recent interview raised the suspicion that the "Union" has but a single nuclear scientist: Kendall. (After all, how many nuclear scientists can you round up to endorse antinuclear superstitions )

Of course, in the entire hour, John Chancellor's voice never told a single outright lie. But there is a more vicious falsehood than the outright lie: the truth, but not the whole truth. ("John Chancellor has never actually been convicted of drug abuse, and he has been known to do without heroin for several days in succession.") Under the guise of a seemingly fair hearing of both sides, the entire hour was brimful of falsehoods of this type.

Explosions? (The film was full of them, Hiroshima, Los Alamos, Bikini, the works.) Nuclear explosions in power plants are a physical impossibility, says exAEC chairman Lee's face on the screen. (The reason is not explained.) Cut to Kendall s face: We are concerned not only with explosions, but also with core melt-downs. which could kill a large number of people. Cut to Lee. The chance of such a disaster is once in 10 million years. Chancellors voice: Maybe so, but here is a disaster that did happen, a statistic come alive. Cut to the wreckage of an H-bomb carrying plane that crashed in Spain some years ago. This time, the safeguard worked, and the bomb did not explode, but...

Not a single lie was told. Both sides have been heard. But the inference is clear (especially to most of the millions of viewers who listen to the technical talk with half an ear, but see the Hiroshima mushroom with both eyes): Probabilities are abstract numbers, disasters have occurred, nuclear power plants are potential A-bombs.

The lie will go over as surely as our sample lie of Chancellor's heroin addiction would have gone over, had we actually used it.