HIS 100 Module Four Activity Bias mccree
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Southern New Hampshire University *
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Feb 20, 2024
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HIS 100 Module Four Activity Template: Bias in Primary Sources
Locate an additional primary source relevant to your historical event. Use it and the primary source you identified in a previous module to answer the questions below. Replace the bracketed text with your responses.
Source One
Conduct source analysis on a primary source relevant to your historical event.
Attempt to write the APA style citation for your first primary source and include a link to it. You will not be penalized for incorrect format.
Vorotnikov, V. (1986, April 26). Excerpt from Vitaly Vorotnikov Diary Https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/19488-national-security-archive-doc-1-excerpt Excerpt from Vitaly Vorotnikov Diary.
Respond to the following questions:
Who authored or created the primary source?
o
Vitaly Vorotnikov
What was the author’s position in society at the time the primary source was created?
o
He was the Politburo, which was the central power figure of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union.
When was the primary source created?
o
April 26
th
, 1986
Where was the primary source created, released, or publicized?
o
The source was an excerpt from Vitaly Vorotnikovs’ personal journal that he wrote the day of the accident as his organization was getting its first pieces of information from the disaster site. It was publicized and released in 1995 and in 2019 it was translated and posted on the National Security Archive website.
Who was the intended audience for the primary source?
o
The author, as it was his personal diary.
Why was the primary source created?
o
As a personal record, for the author, of the initial reporting from individuals at Chernobyl.
Whose perspective(s) is presented in the source?
o
Vitaly Vorotnikov, Vladimir Dolgikh and Viktor Bryukhanov. 1
Source Two
Conduct a source analysis on a primary source relevant to your historical event.
Attempt to write the APA style citation for your second primary source and include a link to it. You will not be penalized for incorrect format.
Abramowitz, M. (1986, May 2). INR Information Memorandum from Morton Abramowitz to the Secretary of State: Estimate of Fatalities at Chernobyl Reactor Accident. Secret. | National Security Archive. Nsarchive.gwu.edu. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/19496-national-security-archive-doc-
9-inr-information
Respond to the following questions:
Who authored or created the primary source?
o
Morton Abramowitz
What was the author’s or creator’s position in society at the time the primary source was created?
o
Head of the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research
When was the primary source created?
o
May 2
nd
, 1986
Where was the primary source created, released, or publicized?
o
U.S.A.
Who was the intended audience for the primary source?
o
Secretary of State George Schultz
Why was the primary source created?
o
To refute the statements by the U.S.S.R. that only two people fell victim to the initial Chernobyl explosion and fire.
Whose perspective(s) is presented in the source?
o
The U.S. Intelligence Community.
Both Sources
Analyze the primary sources relevant to your historical event for the presence of bias.
After reviewing the primary sources, the only bias found was in what information was being put out by Viktor Bryukhanov, who was the Director of the Chernobyl plant, that there was an explosion at the number four reactor and some of the building was destroyed but the reactor was still intact and shut down. He also stated that there were only two victims from the explosion. This was conveyed in the excerpt from the journal of Vitaly Vorotnikov. This information was obviously false and as I read in the second source I reviewed, the Abramowitz memo, The U.S. intelligence community vehemently denied that the reports from Soviet officials
2
regarding casualties at the site were accurate. They based their assumptions on imagery from the site and estimates of how many people would have been working at the time of the incident.
Compare how your historical event is represented in your primary sources.
In the journal excerpt, it is clear that the Official at the site was trying to convey that while there was an explosion at the number four reactor building causing some damage, the reactor was still
intact and safely shutdown with only two victims of the incident. Meanwhile, The U.S. Intelligence community was utilizing satellite imagery of the site and reports regarding the size of crew that would have been present during the operation of the plant and in the case of an emergency situation like what had happened at the number four reactor. It is clear that the officials from the Power Station were attempting to downplay the severity of the accident in spite of the ability of outside agencies to observe and conclude the true scope of the accident. 3
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