Behind the Headlines

By Charles Slat
CHICAGO — This is what political campaigning is all about.
Sen. John McCain’s visit to DTE Energy’s Fermi 2 nuclear plant was a media event designed to, well, attract media coverage.
Attending a journalism educator’s conference here, I guess I was a little surprised to see McCain’s photo on Page One of USA Today, which was delivered to my hotel room. A tiny photo of McCain standing behind a podium with Fermi’s cooling towers in the background graced the front page with a tinier caption explaining how he was touting nuclear power.
Inside was a larger article with two photos, one with McCain chatting with DTE Energy boss Anthony F. Earley in the Fermi control room.
The Chicago TV news stations also were playing up the story with some stock footage of nuclear plants and B-roll of McCain wearing a DTE Energy hardhat standing beside the Fermi generator.
Some of the reports said the Fermi 2 plant was meant to replace one that had a near-meltdown.
Well, not exactly, but this campaign stuff is more about face-time than substance and accuracy.
Bottom line: We all knew McCain was a strong supporter of nuclear power. There was little news here beyond Monroe County, but the candidate scored heavily on national face-time.
And that’s how campaigning works in the information age.