Censorship
News of this storm was heavily censored. The U.S. Weather Bureau destroyed their barometric readings, as well as many other measurements. News that the storm even existed was censored outside of Texas and Louisiana. The storm destroyed the cooling towers at the Shell Oil Refinery in Deer Park and the Humble Oil Refinery in Baytown, shutting the two facilities down. As these were the primary refineries producing aviation fuel for World War II, it was decided that news about this loss of production should be censored.
Censorship in relation to hurricane advisories has been called the most tragic aspect of this hurricane. Advisories had to be cleared through the Weather Bureau office in New Orleans, causing them to be hours late; moreover the advisories contained no forecast information, which would have allowed for preparation before the storm hit. After the loss of life in this storm, U.S. hurricane advisories have never been censored again.
Read more about this topic: 1943 Surprise Hurricane
Famous quotes containing the word censorship:
“The censorship method ... is that of handing the job over to some frail and erring mortal man, and making him omnipotent on the assumption that his official status will make him infallible and omniscient.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“... a phallocentric culture is more likely to begin its censorship purges with books on pelvic self-examination for women or books containing lyrical paeans to lesbianism than with See Him Tear and Kill Her or similar Mickey-Spillanesque titles.”
—Robin Morgan (b. 1941)
“... censorship often boils down to some male judges getting to read a lot of dirty books—with one hand.”
—Robin Morgan (b. 1941)