PRESS PERCEPTIONS OF S.P.S. Dave Dooling The Huntsville Times, Huntsville, Alabama The news media will play a major role in public acceptance of SPS as a national project should it be adopted as a leading energy program. While the major national news outlets -- such as the Associated Press, United Press International, ABC, NBC, and CBS -- are equipped to understand and report SPS in a factual manner, the public view will be shaped by the editorial policies and understandings of local newspapers and radio and TV stations. Few of these will be staffed by even parttime science reporters, and portrayal of SPS may vary depending on locale of the outlet, political and social slants of management, and misconceptions that may have already been formed. Initially, it is assumed that most opinions will fall into those camps that either see SPS as the best solution to the energy crisis, and those who see it as an orbital version of the Teapot Dome, with a minority in the middle considering it to have promise requiring proof. Obviously, there is no way to directly convince the press that SPS is good or bad -- any such effort would immediately turn the press against such an agent. What will be needed are seminars to help the press to understand those areas of SPS that are understood, and to cope with the areas that are yet to be tested. Most important, they must be made aware that there are major differences between concepts under study and projects being built. This paper will examine SPS as viewed by the press during the 1970-79 period. Research will be conducted with NASA historical files and by telephone interview. No major poll will be conducted. The author is science editor for The Huntsville (AL) Times.
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