Media obscures Iran's nuclear program with 'Fog Facts'

Posted by Joshua Holland at 6:06 AM on April 10, 2007.

In his book, Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin, Larry Beinhart argued that the big commercial media do in fact report just about everything that an engaged citizen needs to make sense of his or her world. The problem, Beinhart wrote, is that crucially important items that defy the dominant political narratives of the day all too often become "fog facts" -- reported and placed in the public record but buried deep down to die lonely deaths in stories below the fold on page B 27 (you can read my interview with Beinhart here).

Yesterday, the AP ran a story about Iran's nuclear program that was a perfect example of the phenomenon. Consider the opening four paragraphs …

NATANZ, Iran -- Iran announced Monday that it has begun enriching uranium with 3,000 centrifuges, defiantly expanding a nuclear program that has drawn U.N. sanctions and condemnation from the West.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony at the enrichment facility at Natanz that Iran was now capable of enriching nuclear fuel "on an industrial scale."

Asked if Iran has begun injecting uranium gas into 3,000 centrifuges for enrichment, top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani replied, "Yes." He did not elaborate, but it was the first confirmation that Iran had installed the larger set of centrifuges after months of saying it intends to do so. Until now, Iran was only known to have 328 centrifuges operating.

Uranium enrichment can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material for a nuclear warhead. The United States and its allies accuse Iran of intending to produce weapons, a charge the country denies.

That's followed by comments by a U.S. State Department spokesman and a White House official condemning Iran, a "no comment" from the IAEA, an inflammatory quote or two from a speech given by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a quote from Michael Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations.

If you make it through all of that, you'll eventually reach the 22nd paragraph, where you'll unearth this pertinent little fact:

Experts say the Natanz plant needs between 50,000 to 60,000 centrifuges to consistently produce fuel for a reactor or build a warhead.

Yes, in the 22nd paragraph of the 28-graph story, we learn that the 3,000 centrifuges are one twentieth of the number experts say are needed to build a warhead! That, my friends, is a fog fact.

PS: I know it would be asking too much for these reports to mention a key aspect of the UN sanctions against Iran. The resolution authorizing them offers no cause that justifies them. There's no sentence in there like, "whereas Iran is violating blah blah blah." That's because Iran -- like all other signatories of the Non Proliferation Treaty -- is guaranteed the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, and the process is the same until you stick the enriched uranium in a weapon.

Tagged as: iran, media, nuclear

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet.