Sunday, July 20, 2008
2008 Canadian UFO Survey, part 2
Media interest in the 2008 Survey has been at a steady trickle. We received emails and calls from media two or three per day, and then it would be quiet for about 8 hours, then start again. It's interesting how media play out a story and also put their own interpretations on things.
I did a TV double-ender in my study with Global TV one morning, and expected it to show up that evening. Nothing appeared. However, the next day, the UFO story appeared on Google alerts and on the Global TV national website, under "top stories." Yet it never actually made it to air, as far as I could see, that day or the next. Even the local affiliate didn't appear to run the story. Meanwhile, the story appeared in papers across the country. But the next day, another Global reporter called me and did a second interview. It appeared later that day on the CanWest wire, and eventually in the National Post on July 19, 2008. It was a good story, and quite long, and well-placed in the paper. The reporter had clearly read the Survey, something few had bothered to do even in years past. The only problem with the story was that in the last paragraph, she wrote that we "work with" NORAD and NASA to explain UFOs. I definitely didn't say that, and now that I think of it, it was she who mentioned NORAD and NASA, and I replied something to the effect that we try to use or get information from NASA and NORAD to help explain reports. We do; I occasionally check NASA launch data on re-entries and North Bay on possible satellite or fireball observations. I don't think that's "working with" them, but we do try to cover the bases. I've contacted James Oberg in the past about some cases, as his connections are significantly better placed than ours.
I still have some left-over interviews to do on Monday, but that may be the run for this year.
I did a TV double-ender in my study with Global TV one morning, and expected it to show up that evening. Nothing appeared. However, the next day, the UFO story appeared on Google alerts and on the Global TV national website, under "top stories." Yet it never actually made it to air, as far as I could see, that day or the next. Even the local affiliate didn't appear to run the story. Meanwhile, the story appeared in papers across the country. But the next day, another Global reporter called me and did a second interview. It appeared later that day on the CanWest wire, and eventually in the National Post on July 19, 2008. It was a good story, and quite long, and well-placed in the paper. The reporter had clearly read the Survey, something few had bothered to do even in years past. The only problem with the story was that in the last paragraph, she wrote that we "work with" NORAD and NASA to explain UFOs. I definitely didn't say that, and now that I think of it, it was she who mentioned NORAD and NASA, and I replied something to the effect that we try to use or get information from NASA and NORAD to help explain reports. We do; I occasionally check NASA launch data on re-entries and North Bay on possible satellite or fireball observations. I don't think that's "working with" them, but we do try to cover the bases. I've contacted James Oberg in the past about some cases, as his connections are significantly better placed than ours.
I still have some left-over interviews to do on Monday, but that may be the run for this year.
# posted by rutkows @ 8:09 AM 
