Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
that the California press had already shed the bad habit of seismic denial-
ism.
171
In fact, he was favorably impressed by recent reporting: “I find that
several of the newspapermen have in Imperial Valley had printed very good
accounts of the recent shocks, and they appeared to be very interested in
the whole subject.”
172
If Wood saw a problem with the reporting, it was an
“exaggerated tone.” His goal in partnering with the press was not to sway
public opinion. Rather, he was devising a research strategy, as became clear
in the text that Wood proposed to send to the “rural” papers:
A shock generally noticed in an out-of-the-way district may never come to
the attention of earthquake students, nor find any place in any list of earth-
quakes, unless some account of it is printed. Such earthquake lists or catalogs
are the basis of practical or statistical studies, as well as more strictly scientific
investigations, and the more complete the lists are the more value they have.
By printing brief accounts of shocks whenever they occur the local papers can
make a real and valuable contribution to the advancement of our knowledge
of earthquakes.
Knowledge of the occurrence of such weak earthquakes is of scientific,
and
practical
value in various ways. For example,
mention,
and
non-mention,
of
weak earth motion helps to determine the boundary between the region in
which a shock is definitely felt and that in which it is definitely not felt. this
aids in fixing the place of origin of the shock, in approximating its depth, and
in estimating the amount of energy involved. Knowledge of the occurrence
and place of origin of weak shocks help in determining geologic faults which
are still active. the frequency with which such shocks originate on a given
fault affords some index of its degree of activity and so the extent to which it
may be a source of danger.
Such information is valuable in many other ways which cannot be ex-
plained here in detail.
173
to his disappointment, Wood's colleagues were reluctant to help distrib-
ute this letter to local newspapers. Maher, the chief of the CGS, refused to
approach the press at all. Louderback at Berkeley thought that journalists
were covering earthquakes well enough already. even Byerly pointed out
that “earthquakes are a ticklish business to mention to the public.” Wood
would not give up. In March he told Byerly that he hoped “that you and
Dr. Louderback may reconsider your opinion about the desirability of ap-
proaching the press. . . . By and large, day in and day out, the papers do not
do anything like as good a job of reporting earthquakes as they should and
I hope that you may find it feasible to make an approach in the name of
