Post Author
Over the past several decades, a great deal of exposure has been directed at UFOs and UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena) throughout all government hearings and great amounts of speculation as there are many viral videos perceived as ‘evidence’. Here is the outrageous part: Since 2006, media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New York Post published hundreds of articles on the topic, yet they never decided to investigate it further.
Steve Bassett, Political Activist and Executive Director of the Paradigm Research Group is questioning the public’s understanding of the media coverage of UFOs and the UAPs, emphasizing this issue with a thought-provoking tweet:
There is a misunderstanding about UFO/UAP/ET media coverage. "The mainstream media won't cover it." Wrong. Selecting five major newspapers going back to 2006, here are the article numbers: New York Times (90), Washington Post (118), New York Post (149), Wall Street Journal…
— Paradigm Research Group (@SteveBassett) December 26, 2024
Even so, however, the mass media has not essayed into bulging out of scope in writing articles depicting UFOs and UAPs which is a huge gap between the public and these articles despiedited with a proper high grade logic of branding.
The Stats That Tell the Story
According to Bassett’s tweet, there appears to be a great interest in UFOs, especially by the media. He provides a list of articles published by various mainstream outlets with the following tally:
- The New York Times: 90 articles published from 2006.
- The Washington Post: 118 articles.
- The New York Post: 149 articles.
- The Wall Street Journal: 27 articles.
- Times of London: 18 articles.
- USA Today: 45 articles.
- Los Angeles Times: 60 articles.
- Chicago Tribune: 34 articles.
This totals up to around 600 articles published about UFOs over the course of the 18 years says Bassett, however it appears that Bassett is trying to make the point that these articles cover only the surface of the topic. Any detailed unresolved questions on the topic remain under reported.
Surveys on Public Perception of UFOs
Contrary to many of the polls, some surveys suggest that there is an increased interest among the public over the matter of UFOs, but the same polls highlighted a major gap between the amount of coverage given and the expectations for greater depth into the investigation. A Poll by YouGov in the year 2023 reports that 55% of respondents said they believe UFOs are real, and out of the total percentage 34% stated they believe aliens made them.
Along the lines of this, a poll conducted in the same year revealed that 68% of respondents stated that they were not satisfied with how UFOs were treated in the media, stating the coverage over the topic was too speculative and unaided.
A Report published in the year 2022 by Gallup suggested that 41% of Americans expressed a slight or a considerable interest in what the US is doing to investigate UFOs, such as conducting reports and congressional hearings.
However, even though there seems to be a lot of fascination with the UFO phenomenon, 70 percent of the respondents feel that the mainstream media has either downplayed or neglected the UFO phenomenon as a subject to report or investigate.
The Deficiency of Investigative Journalism
The issue that Bassett is drawing attention to is the space of journalism coverage rather than the space of publishing. Although UFOs and UAPs have coverage, most of the coverage tends to repeat what was included in high-level statements or reports instead of what is probing or overseeing the phenomena. To illustrate, The New York Times and The Washington Post’s articles tend to center on congressional hearings and former military witnesses’ testimonies, which is important but hardly constitutes an in-depth analysis of the subject.
Where did it go wrong?
Bassett’s tweet poses a question since the media can cover UFOs, why do they shy away from investigating it? His other followers such as Xavier Manuel while responding to the tweet explain that perhaps the reporters who report these issues overly rely on government officials from the Department of Defence or the Intelligence community.
Because the reporters who could investigate the phenomenon have been co-opted by the DOD/IC/MIC & have become too reliant on those sources for what they do publish. They’re not going to bite the hands that feeds them. Only independent journalists eg Ross Coulthart investigate
— Xavier Manuel (@XavierM94228601) December 26, 2024
This tendency of building official narratives perhaps is the reason why journalists do not explore alternative sources or investigate the ufos in a manner that would upset the traditional power structures.
As Bassett explained in one of his follow-up tweets, the performer said he did not find more than 5 percent of the articles published in the mainstream media dismissing UFOs as a phenomenon.
With respect to the articles mention the skeptical/dismissive/silly ones were less than 5%.
— Paradigm Research Group (@SteveBassett) December 26, 2024
The pecentage for the past 10,000 article from all media is also less than 5 %.
Still, however, the mass communication apparatus shows no willingness to look for explanations for problems that have already been exposed. This leads to the question that often makes one feel quite frustrated: if so many articles exist, why are we still stuck on the surface of this issue? Still, however, there is not a single media outlet that provides any reasonable coverage on extraterrestrial encounters, since government does not approve of it.
Mainstream Media’s Misinformation on UFOs
The narrative surrounding UFOs is largely dictated by the media, which to a certain extent, determines the public perception of the phenomenon. There are many who recount seeing UFOs today and several who have reported on the existence of extraterrestrial life, albeit in a fictional format but the media likes to keep their coverage solely to the government and specific allegations.
As a case in point, ‘proof’ of this can be illustrated when one considers that tweets like ANUBIS OF THE DEEP suggest that the national media coverage may be feeding off the commentary made by the national security state. This means UFO sightings are dismissed as cases of mass hysteria, rather than being viewed as legitimate and creditable events.
The narrative surrounding UFOs is largely dictated by the media, which to a certain extent, determines the public perception of the phenomenon. There are many who recount seeing UFO’s today and several who have reported on the existence of extraterrestrial life, albeit in a fictional format but the media likes to keep their coverage solely to the government and specific allegations. As a case in point, ‘proof’ of this can be illustrated when one considers that tweets like ANUBIS OF THE DEEP’s suggest that the national media coverage may be feeding off the commentary made by Thenational security state. Which means, UFO sightings are dismissed as cases of mass hysteria, rather than being viewed as legitimate and creditable events.The Bigger Picture: Is Censorship Involved?
UFOs are shown to be a topic worthy of being treated with the utmost care, but responding to the allegations without enough evidence up to these accusations considerably amounts to self-censorship and is a little bit paradoxical for them to accept, especially taking into account the inquiry.
Even Ross Coulthart is not trustworthy, he is just an independent journalist trying to investigate UFOs and is sent away and ignored by the mainstream media, which illustrates the invisibility of the boundaries of perception and the lack of communication between the two spheres.
The Truth Stays Concealed, But for What Reason?
Bassett’s tweet poses questions that are critical and are more than just about UFOs. It begs the question that if the media has covered UFOs in more than 600 articles, then why do people only know a little about it? Is it possible that the media simply gets some of the stories about the phenomenon because it is under strict regulations by powerful forces or certain government agencies? Having taken into 18 years and more than 600 publications from different major outlets, clearly means that UFOs are not regarded as a marginal issue.
On the contrary, the story that speaks vividly about these phenomena and what they offer in terms of the world’s narrative is yet to be told. If there’s ever going to be any real change in this story, journalists and the media need to step out of their comfort zones. They have to stop relying solely on “official” sources and start addressing a plethora of issues that have been overlooked for far too long. That being said, Bassett’s question however stays unanswered: why do the journalists never even once attempt to unravel the mystery behind UFOs, claiming to expose it instead?
Last Updated on by Saket Kumar