Case Studies in Earth & Environmental Science Journalism

Noah's Flood.

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  • Background Information
  • Popular Articles

Questions to Ponder and Discuss

• What critical finding came out of the Deep Sea Drilling Project work on Mediterranean evaporites? How might you report on this? Why are some parts of this report more accessible than many technical articles?
• What are some of the strategies used in Noah's Flood to appeal to a wide readership? Why might drawings have been used for illustrations in Noah's Flood?
• Are similar strategies used in the popular articles and reviews of the book? For example, do you find the "Ballard's adventures" form of the National Geographic article to be appealing? How important are the personalities of the scientists involved in giving this story 'legs'?
• How might you report on the flood story, using "Noah" as a news peg, but not allowing the integrity of the findings to rely on it?
• Bill Ryan says that the most common question he still gets when lecturing is about the plausibility of an account of the flood being maintained through oral tradition. Consider this in light of "Homer in Bosnia." Was this question discussed at all in the popular articles?
• The word "Noah" was never used in any of Ryan and Pitman's technical papers, yet, it is used in some of the responses. How should the scientific community, and science journalists, treat sections of scientific work that are outside of the peer review system?
• What is strange about the citations of Aksu's paper? Note the time period he speculates on in the first article, and then the timespan of his samples.
• How might the 1991 Russian article affect the flood hypothesis? How would you report it? What if it just came to your attention recently? Obviously, as a journalist, you cannot interpret on your own. What would you do to get a story out of it?
• Should more scientists take the time to speculate on interdisciplinary projects? What is the proper platform for this? Even if the flood was not "Noah's," what is the value of the insight into scientific process that "Noah's Flood" gives us? How could this be incorporated into an article?
• Why do you think there was so much more early interest in the Noah's Flood hypothesis? (The sampling of popular articles included is representative of the broader number found.)
• Why did Ballard's discovery of an underwater dwelling spark so much media attention? Compare the four articles published immediately following its announcement.
• How well do you think that the stories that describe the scientific debates surrounding the flood hypothesis portray the questions at issue? Does Ryan's reply to his critics merit a follow-up article?

Readings

Background information: Noah's Flood.

Hsu, Kenneth J., Cita, Maria B., Ryan, W.B.F., “The Origin of the Mediterranean Evaporites,” Initial Report of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, Vol. 13, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1973, pgs. 1203, 1205, 1227-1229.

Ibid., “Valencia Trough: Site 122,” Initial Report of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, Vol. 13, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1973, pgs. 97-98, 103-104.

Krischev, K.G., Georgiev, V.M., “Regional Washout on the Pleistocene-Holocene Boundary in the Western Black Sea Depression,” Comptes Readus de l’Academie bulgare des Sciences, Vol. 44, No. 9, 1991 (recent translation from Russian).

Knight, Mary, “Homer in Bosnia,” The Sciences, NY Academy of Science, March/April 1993, pg. 10-13.

Ryan, W.B.F., Pitman, W.C., et al, “An abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf,” Marine Geology, vol 138, 1997, 119-126.

Ryan, William and Pitman, Walter, Noah’s Flood: New Scientific Discoveries About the Event that Changes History, Simon & Schuster, 1998, pgs. 13-18, 86, 122, 153-161, 186-187, 192-193, 200-201, 252.

Gorur, Naci, et. al., “Is the abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf at 7150 yr BP a myth?” Marine Geology, vol. 176, 2001, pg. 65-73.

Aksu, Ali, et al, “Persistent Holocene Outflow from the Black Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean Contradicts Noah’s Flood Hypothesis,” GSA Today, May 2002, pgs. 4, 9.

Aksu, Ali, et. al., “Seismic Stratigraphy of Late Quaternary deposits from the southwester Black Sea shelf: evidence for non-catastrophic variations in sea-level during the last ~ 10,000 yrs,” Marine Geology, Vol. 190, Issues 1-2, 15 Oct.2002, pgs. 61-94.

Ryan, W.B.F., et al, “Catastrophic Flooding of the Black Sea,” Annual Review of Earth & Planetary Science, 31: 525-554, 2003 (reviews in advance published Feb., 21, 2003).

Popular Articles: Noah's Flood.

Ahuja, Anjana, “Proving Noah’s Flood,” The London Times, December, 9, 1996.

BBC Worldwide, description of Noah’s Flood Horizon documentary, released 1996.

Truss, Lynne, “It ain’t necessarily so, but it just might be,” The London Times, December 17, 1996 (television review of documentary).

Mestel, Rosie, “Noah’s Flood,” New Scientist, vol 156, issue 2102-04 Oct. 1997, pg. 24.

Wilford, John Noble, “Plumbing Black Sea for Proof of the Deluge,” New York Times, Science Section, January 5, 1999.

Morrison, Philip and Phyllis, “Noah’s Flood?,” Scientific American, February 15, 1999.

Gugliotta, Guy, “For Noah’s Flood, a New Wave of Evidence,” Washington Post, Nov. 18, 1999.

Gugliotta, Guy, “Artifacts Found in Black Sea May Be Evidence of Biblical Flood,” Washington Post, Sept. 13, 2000.

Leary, Warren, “Found: Possible Pre-Flood Artifacts,” New York Times, Sept. 13, 2000.

Maugh, Thomas, “Strong Evidence of Flood,” The Montreal Gazette, Sept. 14, 2000.

Spotts, Peter, “Black Sea Find May Explain Noah’s Flood, Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 15, 2000.

Wilford, John Noble, “Experts Face of on Noah’s Flood,” New York Times, Jan. 9, 2001.

Ballard, Robert, “The Deep Black Sea,” National Geographic, May 2001.

Cohen, Aryeh Dean, “The mystery of Noah’s Flood,” Jerusalem Post, July 29, 2001.

Feran, Tim, “Double-Barreled Quest Reaches Depths of Black Sea,” The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, Oct. 7, 2001.

The Canadian Press, “Geologists Debunk Flood Theory,” The Ottowa Citizen, Nov. 26, 2001.

Geonews, “Noah’s Flood – All Washed Up?,” Geoscientist, magazine of the Geological Society of London, August, 2002.

Cooke, Robert, “Making Waves Over Noah’s Flood,” Newsday, Jan. 14, 2003.

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