‘Inaccurate’ Reports Of Earthquakes

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31724, 6 July 1968, Page 38

‘Inaccurate’ Reports Of Earthquakes

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 5. Some reporting on the earthquake damage on the West Coast was not in the highest tradition of journalism and was not one of the most creditable performances of news media, Mr W. E. Rowling (Lab., Buller) said during the Address-in-Reply debate in Parliament today.

After paying tribute to the restoration work done by Government departments, local authorities, pilots, volunteers, and the Civil Defence Organisation, Mr Rowling said: “There was one discordant note.

a great deal of anxiety, both for people living in the earth-quake-stricken area and for relatives who lived in other parts of New Zealand." In an interview later, Mr Rowling said ail news media which covered the earthquake must share the responsibility for inaccurate coverage.

“In their preoccupation with sensation rather than fact, some news media created

“They failed to ascertain accurately what the true state of affairs was,” he said. Mr Rowling gave two particular instances—the slip which temporarily blocked the Buller River and the slip which appeared to threaten Inangahua Junction. In both cases news media had failed to report the situation accurately, he said;

Asked to state whether he considered some news media bad been more at fault than others, he replied: “I don’t exclude any of the news media which covered the earthquake from the charge.” Mr Rowling said he would probably raise his criticism again during debate on the Estimates of the Earthquake and War Damage Commission.