Five major newspapers in the United States published only eight stories about a scientifically legitimate prediction of a 1989 earthquake that caused six billion dollars' damage. The same newspapers published 68 stories about an unscientific prediction of a 1990 earthquake that did not occur. This paper attempts to explain why the unscientific prediction received more scrutiny by examining the journalistic practices that determine what is newsworthy and who is interviewed. The paper also analyses the effectiveness of an organized effort by the scientific community to intervene in the journalistic process.
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