Was the press\u2019 obsessive coverage of the flood harmful or helpful to the recovery of Johnstown?\u00a0 McCullough seems to present two radically different arguments in his telling of the Johnstown Flood.\u00a0 On the one hand, McCullough describes members of the press as opportunistic vultures just looking for their next scoop, but on the other, he repeatedly points out that their coverage helped Johnstown obtain upwards of three million dollars in relief funds.<\/p>\n
In chapter VII McCullough describes an interesting interaction between Arthur J. Moxham, Johnstown\u2019s temporary \u201cdictator,\u201d and the National Guard.\u00a0 Earlier in the chapter McCullough wonders at Moxham\u2019s clear-headedness, labeling his decision to begin clearing the mess as \u201cextraordinary\u201d (190).\u00a0 Yet McCullough sends the National Guard packing when they show up because he believed it best that \u201cthe people handle their problems themselves.\u201d\u00a0 I thought Moxham made an interesting point, but wondered how he could possibly turn down free help when it was offered.\u00a0 After reading on, I realized the help was not exactly free.\u00a0 Johnstown would have to find shelter and food for any visitors who tried to help or write about the flood\u2014shelter and food that the population of Johnstown desperately needed.<\/p>\n
The accounts of the many different reporters who came to Johnstown demonstrate that members of the press did not take this into consideration when coming to town.\u00a0 One reporter for the Philadelphia Press<\/i>, Richard Harding Davis, expected to find a restaurant, a horse and buggy, and a pressed shirt (216).\u00a0 Instead, he had to compete for resources with the rest of Johnstown and the many relief workers, reporters, family members, and opportunists in town.\u00a0 Many reporters stretched the truth beyond recognition, and in some cases the lies spread by the reporters led to trouble for members of the Johnstown community.\u00a0 With headlines as brass as \u201cFiends in Human Form\u201d and \u201cDrunken Hungarians, Dancing, Singing, Cursing, and Fighting amid the Ruins,\u201d newspapers like the New York Herald endangered the lives of the Hungarians in town since they fed on prejudices and created panic (211).<\/p>\n
However, McCullough balances this irreverent description of the press by citing the millions of dollars of relief their publicity had inspired.\u00a0 Not only did the press\u2019 publicity garner the town money, but also supplies like lumber, furniture, quicklime, etc. (225).\u00a0 McCullough notes that leaders of Johnstown declared that any able bodied man who stayed in Johnstown needed to help with relief efforts, and many members of the press adhered to this rule to stay in town.<\/p>\n
With all of this information, I wonder what opinion of the press I am supposed to have.\u00a0 As Amani<\/a> points out, McCullough inserts his own opinions about humanity into his narrative.\u00a0 With that in mind, I was left with the idea that McCullough believed the press to be a short-term hindrance to the reconstruction of Johnstown, but an overall blessing for the survivors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Was the press\u2019 obsessive coverage of the flood harmful or helpful to the recovery of Johnstown?\u00a0 McCullough seems to present two radically different arguments in his telling of the Johnstown Flood.\u00a0 On the one hand, McCullough describes members of the press as opportunistic vultures just looking for their next scoop, but on the other, he … <\/p>\n