Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
South America attended. The blinding lights from the cameras
flashed on, and the show began.
The juxtaposition of the desolate scenes from the field and the
media frenzy in the conference room seemed rather surreal. Little did
we know when we had traveled to that remote corner of Patagonia
that we would bring back fossils of the tiniest giant dinosaurs, who
would become instant media celebrities 80 million years after they
had died.
After we were introduced, we showed some slides and a video of the
site as we described the kinds of fossils we had found. This presenta-
tion took about half an hour before we opened the floor up for ques-
tions. The questions and subsequent interviews went on for another
three hours. By midaftemoon we were fried and retreated for lunch to
our offices. But the wave of publicity was just beginning to crest. Dur-
ing the news conference, dozens of reporters who had not been able
to attend called the museum to ask questions and get quotes from us.
The phone calls continued throughout the afternoon. By evening, we
were exhausted and hoarse, but we still had to ride down to the BBC
studio to do a live interview for their late-night news on radio and TV
By the time that was over, we had been on stage for almost nine hours
straight. It was definitely time for a drink.
That evening, numerous members of the field crew and the media,
along with some of our other colleagues and friends, gathered at a
Spanish restaurant downtown. InfoQuest, one of the foundations that
had sponsored the expedition, had arranged for an informal party to
celebrate our announcement. When we arrived at the restaurant, at
about 8
P.M.,
several guests said that they had already seen clips from
the news conference on TV. It was all quite gratifying, but the almost
instantaneous nature of the coverage was also rather numbing. We
hoped that, in all the commotion, we hadn't said anything too stupid
in front of the cameras. About 10
P.M.,
the party broke up, and we went
home. But the onslaught of coverage would continue the next day: at
five-thirty the next morning, we had to show up bright and cheery for
an appearance on
Good Morning America.
We awoke to a torrent of publicity. In addition to the scientific
report that was published in the November 19,1998, issue of
Nature,
the
National Geographic
article appeared. The story made headlines
around the world, with front-page articles in
The New York Times
and
