Portacom City: Reporting on the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes: 2017

Description

When natural disaster strikes, how much is the public entitled to know - even when the scientists aren't sure? What obligations do they have to a general public thirsty for information about what will happen next? Should they wait until they have all the facts before they say anything?Caught up in the ongoing earthquakes, Christchurch newspaper journalist Paul Gorman struggled to make sense of what the scientists were telling him. Was there more? Were worried residents receiving the full picture? In this BWB Text Gorman describes his troubled ongoing dealings with government scientists and the extraordinary challenges that confront reporters at times of crisis.

Paul Gorman is a senior writer at The Press in Christchurch. A former weather forecaster and a science graduate from Canterbury University, Paul has worked at The Press for over 12 years.