California Earthquake Gives the Media Headlines

Tuesday’s Los Angeles Seismic Event Stopped Judge Judy’s Court

Jul 30, 2008 Frank W. Hardy

Yesterday's earthquake in Shaky Town, California receive much attention and while small on the Richter scale, did Hollywood and the media make it exceedingly newsworthy?

The American media made the California earthquake front page headlines. Comparisons were made to earlier, more devastating, quakes like the Northridge and San Francisco quakes of 1994 and 1989; but today’s media ran rampant with aftershocks. They had a problem - limited physical damage, no loss of life and small disruptions made reporters scramble for shocking headlines.

ABC showed an astrologer running for cover using expletives in her retreat. CBS had a reporter walking among a small pile of bricks as though that was all he could find. NBC showed city councilmen discussing earthquake safety in the Los Angeles City Hall building and even the staunch BBC was not to be outdone showing 5 bottles of shampoo broken on a grocery store floor.

Al Jazerra, the Middle East network in an obvious political statement, showed the same pile of bricks as CBS amid a larger pile of bricks in a Baghdad suburb. Russia’s RTV mentioned the quake between her report on possible oil at the bottom of Lake Baikal; while China’s CCTV-9 ran comparisons between the recent Sichuan quake, LA smog and today’s California quake (even though they showed photos of the Marina district in 1989’s Loma Prieta earthquake.)

With all this attention about something that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said was “a reminder” of California’s position, Hollywood could not leave it alone. Caltech experts “…estimated that Tuesday's quake released only 1% of the energy unleashed by the 1994 disaster,” according to spokesperson Dr. Kate Hutton. Still several media outlets ran shots of audience members scrambling out of the taping of a popular syndicated TV show in anticipated horror.

Judge Judy

Was it “Justice is blind” or “The show must go on?” Stunned like a deer in headlights, contestants (plaintiffs and defendants) as well as the popular television judge did not know whether to leave the set or continue taping. Waiting, then leaving, then returning; the instincts of ratings overcame the instincts of survival and the show went on.

Still the news progressed from the earthquake itself (a small event by California standards) to the media’s reaction to the event. In an obvious attempt to rectify its coverage, Hollywood began to examine the reaction of the populace. Accepting no responsibility for creating the response to the events, the media ran repetitive clips of individual reactions to the quake with the Judge receiving a disproportionate sampling.

The Escape

Within 24 hours the world media saw the story for what it was – a non event. American editors however, rapidly switched the topic from the actual quake to citizen responses, humanitarian fears and future catastrophes. Dave Whitcomb reported in the July 30, 2008 Star that Governor Schwarzenegger said: “I think we were very lucky with this one” and the media went wild.

MSNBC reported: “Although the quake…didn't cause any severe damage…Southern California residents are exhaling with relief—that for now, they've eluded The Big One.” CBS reported: “Earthquakes happen. When the next big one hits, 80,000 to 100,000 homes and apartment units could become uninhabitable, 300,000 people could be forced out of their homes, and as many as 1,700 road closures could make travel difficult or impossible.” The CNN headlines glared: “Expert: L.A.'s 5.4 quake 'small sample' of one to come.” And always sensational Fox News said: “Scientists: Gigantic Earthquake Would Devastate Southern California.”

Cooler heads do prevail. LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in an interview about Tuesday’s quake: “Well no, question about it. As I said, we are a city that — I mean, like you said, we are a city that has had its share of earthquakes….” Californians know that and so does the rest of the world, but yesterday’s quake was not “the big one” no matter how much journalists want to report about it. And just possibly, the 100,000 homes that people will loose are caused by foreclosures and not earthquakes!

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