Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
t h r e e
News of the Apocalypse
Anyone who studied earthquakes in the nineteenth century was used to
having their fingertips covered in newsprint. the circulation of earthquake
stories in the daily press was the lifeblood of nineteenth-century seismol-
ogy. Scientific researchers culled the testimony of earthquake witnesses
from local papers, posted advertisements to solicit observations, and used
the major dailies as a forum for communicating their research to the public.
Newspaper culture in turn shaped the ways in which seismologists linked
local stories into planetary ones.
the term “journalism” was introduced into english from French in
1833, the same year that the word “scientist” was coined.
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At a moment
of fitful democratization in Britain, each of these neologisms labeled an
unprecedented form of authority over the public, a new class of guardians
of information. Newspapermen saw themselves as fulfilling a modern
responsibility for the rapid and transparent exchange of information. By
mid-century, this aspiration was realized via the telegraph: reuter's sent its
first commercial newswires in 1851, its first foreign dispatches in 1858.
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By
1834, it was “a matter of universal observation” in Britain that “the great
changes of recent times have been mainly owing to the influence of the
press.”
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But what was the nature of its influence? In step with the expansion
of the franchise throughout western and central europe, concerns grew over
the power of the press to sway public opinion. A French physician lamented
in 1895 that the papers were no longer a voice of reason. readers grew skep-
tical of “sensationalism,” even as circulations rose. the papers themselves
remarked frequently on the machinations of their competitors. According
to historians, a widespread sense emerged that “truth” had to be defended
against the distortions of wily publishers.
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