Joe Shea and The American Reporter produced an excellent piece that contrasts the good and the bad in American UFO coverage in a feature published earlier this week as How Not To Cover UFOs: Washington Post Gets An Earful After Revelations.
I read Joe's piece, and then immediately read the Post story. Columnist John Kelly wrote an awful story on the National Press Club's press conference on UFOs and nukes. And I admit, I had to jump in on the Comments circus. Here's how I reacted to the Post.
You can put 10 journalists into a room and get 10 perspectives on the same event; but often it's obvious what should be covered. The Titanic sank. The Hindenburg exploded. But Mr. Kelly would apparently be the one to write, "Despite that, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?"
I'm not shocked that Mr. Kelly chose to ridicule rather than report. Mainstream media is trained to only take seriously what they can take back to the newsroom and sell to an editor. Without his 'cookies' remarks, there's no story, and perhaps, no paycheck. He was being just plain clever.
His colleagues over at CNN during the Tuesday morning broadcast were smiling as they led into coverage - somehow pleading - "help me get through this to the next 'real' news story." The simple response here is that Americans cannot look to mainstream media for serious coverage of the UFO phenomena and it's pointless to poke fingers at reporters like Mr. Kelly, who I am sure is very good at covering politics and wars and sunsets.
Let's all stop wasting our time trying to convince the Mr. Kelly's that this subject is serious, and move on to the changing media that is attempting coverage and explanations.
In the end, the American people will move on, wise up, and choose what gets into their homes. While the Washington Post will most likely survive the media wars over the next 5 years as advertising dollars fight it out - the shift away from existing mainstream media is already happening. The now-defunct Rocky Mountain News is just one example. Mr. Kelly gets his paycheck for now, but it's sad he missed out on using the media he represents to give his readers a real story.
As others have written, it's obvious there was little or no homework done in advance, and his payoff was most likely a smile and a nod at the Post water cooler on the cookie reference. Meanwhile, UFOs - whatever they are and whatever they mean - are whizzing through the American skies daily. And apparently, no one from the Post is looking up. He had a story and he passed it up. Now it's our turn to pass up the Post and simply move on.
Thanks to The American Reporter and Joe Shea - the word is getting out. We invite readers to stop reading the Post - and start reading The American Reporter.
Comments
Bravo!
Great article!
Thank you. We need to get beyond complaining and choose what media we allow into our homes. Our choices - as a body - will send a statement to those who control media. The "new" media is rapidly changing in this country and a seriousness of ufology is just around the corner. The "cookie" man will be writing about sunsets in a very short time.
Wow, I thought what a horrible article Mr. Kelley wrote; however, looking into his other articles it becomes pretty clear that he writes"soft news articles," offering up his opinions on some of the absurdities of life such as Future Farmers of America dress code of wearing a corduroy jackets zipped up on 100 degree plus days.
It is clear that "The Post" sent the wrong reporter to cover this which is baffling because it concerned possible threats to national security!!
"...at reporters like Mr. Kelly, who I am sure is very good at covering politics and wars and sunsets."
Mr. Kelly will have a good vantage point to cover the sunset over the American newspaper industry.
I really hate the Washington Post. I don't trust their take on anything, and the same almost always goes for CNN. Its just a very bland and sometimes ignorant perspective that I guess must be making someone a lot of money or else they would have gone under by now.
The giggly UFO news reporting seems so oldfashioned now; the Phoenix Lights, Stephenville UFO and UFO over O'Hare were all reported as straight news, and for the first time the witnesses were allowed to tell their stories without rolled eyes and goofy sound effects. I commend Larry King for hosting several panels on his show that delved into the topic of UFO phenomena seriously and providing a platform for proponents on both sides of the UFO debate to be heard.
To me the giggly reporter who's embarrassed to report on UFO is a joke in itself; yesterday on the usually the rather drab local chat radio in my town the radio hosts covered a UFO story and said frankly yet briefly that they believed in UFOs. They usually cover weather, traffic and local politics but now more than ever more and more people are speaking out, demanding questions and talking about UFO's. Kinda sad that the week the UN appoints an ambassador to Space we have reporters who can't handle reporting on UFO phenomena.
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