Was CBS’ “60 Minutes” spooked by the TVA?
October 6, 2009
For the crux of their 20 minute segment to be about the Kingston ash dam break, precious little was said about the cause of it; who was culpable for it, only that it was TVA’s responsibility.
The omitted questions by “60 Minutes”: What caused the “moonscape”? How and why did it happen? Questions any good journalist would ask. (Remember? “I kept six honest-serving men. They taught me all I knew. Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who."-Rudyard Kipling.)
“60 Minutes’” Stahl did not clarify that it was two federal agencies, TVA first then EPA who took charge of the massive cleanup. Anda Ray, initially in charge, is now out of the picture although she was the only TVA representative who spoke, sometimes incorrectly.
Is Ray the bone to TVA for the one to be thrown under the bus in exchange for CBS’ silence on TVA’s dissembling and fraudulent action to make TVA execs less vulnerable to prosecution? That’s the nub of the whole story.
And would another reason for CBS’ silence in the wrong places be a mortal fear of the TVA’s inherent power “to sue (and to be sued)”? Even a casual glance at TVA’s litigation record shows how eager they are to sue and to appeal every judgment against them. It’s part of the TVA culture, the intimidation factor.
CBS could be strung out for a very long time in defending any charges against them made by the TVA. There was not even a mention of TVA’s CEO, Tom Kilgore, the one responsible for everything good or bad at the TVA and who vehemently denies any wrongdoing, that it was “slimes” as a main culprit in the cause of the Kingston disaster.
If Barack Obama is planning to emulate one of FDR’s most famous of “New Deals”, the Tennessee Valley Authority, he might want to completely reorganize and reorient the present TVA along the lines of banking, automobile, and insurance industries that are in the process of becoming nationalized. Obviously, legislation not required.
The fact that CBS chose not to utilize its full investigative capabilities in reference to the horrendously operated TVA does not speak well of the CBS news organization. Perhaps they could change all of that with a more thorough follow up of the TVA.
Meanwhile, CBS certainly has access to a lot of work done in this area by some local media including the Knoxville News Sentinel, the Tennessean, and the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Of course, my site, http://norsworthyopinion.com is replete with information about the TVA.
Ernest Norsworthy
emnorsworthy@earthlink.net