Fukushima Disaster Zone Photographer Allegedly Lied About Going to Red Zones

This might be the end of photographer Keow Wee Loong’s five minutes of fame.

After publishing a series of “never seen before” photos that were supposed to be of the Fukushima Exclusion Zone, Keow shot to stardom, with huge media outlets such as TIME and CNN covering his story.

Unfortunately, his name might now be linked to notoriety.

Polish photographer Arkadiusz Podniesiński claims that Keow did not visit the Red Zones, but got his photos from Fukushima’s Green Zone, which had long been reopened to the public.

“I have visited Fukushima many times to document the destruction caused by the disaster at the nuclear power plant, and so I did not have any major problems identifying the sites where Keow Wee Loong took his photographs. It quickly turned out that all of the photos he took were not taken in the red no-go zones as he claimed, but only in the open green zone (sometimes orange) as well as on Road No. 6, which runs through the Fukushima prefecture. All of these places are open and accessible to all.”

Podniesiński then maps out Keow’s route in yellow – which clearly, does not coincide with the purported Red Zone.

“Today, the streets of Namie and Tomioka are full of cars and people, which one cannot fail to notice. In Namie, there is a working police station, a petrol station and the first shops have been open. One can also see a lot of repair crews on the streets of Namie and Tomioka, as well as increasing numbers of curious tourists. Radiation in the centre of Namie is approximately 0.1 uSv/h, and is therefore normal; it does not differ from most other cities in Japan and around the world. One doesn’t need a gas mask there, much less a full-face one. It isn’t necessary to hide from the police or hike through the woods for hours to get to Namie or Tomioka. Anyone who wants to can go there without permission.”

A Chernobyl victim, this topic strikes close to home for Podniesiński.

“My interest is not to trivialise the catastrophic consequences of the failures of nuclear power plants. When I was 14 years old, I had to drink liquid iodine, which would help stop the absorption of the radioactive iodine isotope coming from the damaged reactor in Chernobyl. For these and other reasons, I have devoted the last 8 years to the subject of Chernobyl (I have been there dozens of times), as well as with the subject of Fukushima from the moment the disaster in Japan happened (I have visited 4 times in the past year, spending more than a month in total there). During this time, I have seen the effects of nuclear disasters enough to be opposed to this form of energy production.”

But as a fellow photographer, he does not condone the sensationalism of news for the sake of short-lived fame or a quick windfall.

“I am, however, a strong opponent of seeking sensationalism, 15 minutes of fame and the money that comes with it, which has become synonymous for me with Keow Wee Loong. Photographers and writers of unreliable and inaccurate texts, which are then replicated by hundreds of media outlets around the world, create a false picture of the current situation in Fukushima. This is particularly important here as, in contrast to Chernobyl, the consequences of the disaster are still fresh and painful. To date, nearly 100,000 evacuees are still out of their homes. Many of them are following the progress of the disaster recovery works and often base their decision to return (or not) on media reports.”

The lengths people will go to just for that couple minutes of Internet fame. It’s sad, really.

Top Image: Facebook (Keow Wee Loong)

This post was first published on goodyfeed.com