The New York Post has posted a picture submitted by a reader in Queens, who insists his photo looks eerily similar to the missile-like streak in LA. Although this article briefly references UFO and conspiracy theories circulating around the blogosphere (not from my blog), this reporting is not the one that I consider to be grossly irresponsible and unbelievably stupid.

CBS 2 in New York posted a video taken by a chopper pilot of another streak in the sky. After consulting an astronomer, this is what they said on air about the astronomer’s conclusion:

He said it looks beautiful, but that is was like nothing more than what’s known as a “contrail” — condensation from a commercial or military jet.

The aliens, apparently, are not coming.

This ending quip by the news anchor about aliens was bad enough. The associated print article goes on to recount the UFO/balloon event from October 13th, as well as a UFO hoax from January 2009.

Apparently, I am not the only one irritated by the hot missile trend. New York Magazine just published a story called Now Every Jet Flying at Sunset is a ‘Missile Scare’. It ends with a very relevant query: “Because why not terrify viewers when you have the option of doing so?”

CBS 2 is not the only mainstream news source to make the association between missiles and aliens in the last few days, but it was the most blatant example.

So now, from New York to LA, how many more contrails are we going to have to read about in the coming days?

It is impressive that CJR took on the subject of UFOs. The journal, for professional journalists, is published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Once I got past the awkward start of the article, the rest of it was quite good.

Journalist Clint Hendler conducted the Q & A with Kean. Hendler covers politics and government transparency issues for the Columbia Journalism Review. He is a former staff member of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. His work has been published by The New York Times, The Independent, and other highly respectable publications. He is a good journalist.

The article was also good. However, I had to read the subtitle of the article twice. At first, I thought Hendler used the cliché statement, “The truth is out there”, as an article subtitle. Instead he asked the question: “Is the truth out there?”.

The only issue that I had with the article was the first paragraph, which I found to be typical awkward UFO reporting by the mainstream media:

Leslie Kean has written an unusual book on an unusual subject: Unidentified flying objects. But this Halloween weekend, Kean would like you to get any pictures of little green men you might have out of your mind.

I wondered about how Hendler came to associate Halloween with UFOs. Sure, the piece was published on Halloween. Alien costumes are popular on Halloween. Perhaps the 1938 Halloween radio broadcast of the Mercury Theatre’s The War of The Worlds is burned into brains more than I thought. Whatever the reason, if Hendler had read Kean’s response to one of his questions, he could have come up with a better opening statement for that article. Kean clearly stated:

People assume UFOs are, one, a question of belief and, two, the reason they’re a question of belief is because the term means alien spacecraft. Neither of those things are accurate. It was very important to me to make it clear from the beginning that nobody is claiming to know what the UFOs are.

Other than that, the article was great and I’ll tell you why: Leslie Kean’s words fill the majority of the article.

In fact, I’ve noticed that the majority of interviews with Kean are Q & A pieces, since journalists are unsure how to handle the topic of UFOs. Perhaps if they pull any of her articles from news archives, they might de-construct it and realize that Kean simply presents the facts. The reporting is no different than what is learned in journalism schools all over the world.

The subject matter, however, does require some research. Kean has spent more than two decades performing that research as a freelance investigative journalist. So perhaps, for now, it is best to let Kean’s words fill the majority of such articles. I suppose it’s also safer in this age of the advertising driven news media to do that. It’s a good first step anyway.

Aside from that, kudos to CJR for publishing this piece and for allowing Kean to present her own words, once again, to the masses. For this article, the intended reading audience includes journalists and journalism students. Regardless, it is a good article for anyone to check out.

The UPI article was filed under “Odd News”: UPI ARTICLE

The UPI article made very little sense to me, so I decided to find the original article that UPI condensed.

Before I found the original article, I came across an AP version. The AP version didn’t present the MUFON folks as crackpots as much as the UPI article, above, managed to do. The same quotes were included, with more information to put the quotes that UPI used into context.

The AP article was filed under “News”: AP ARTICLE

Then, I found the original article, link below, in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Of course, an odd man at the conference was written about in great detail at the end of the article. His presence at the conference had been omitted from the AP article when they condensed the article. Personally, I didn’t see the need to include him in the first place. I’ve seen guys like that in the world outside of UFO conferences. Really, to assert that people like this guy only materialize at UFO conferences is extremely unrealistic. They are found every day at restaurants, at the grocery store, and at the mall.

The original article was filed under “Local News”: ORIGINAL ARTICLE, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

You are welcome to elaborate on your selection in the comments section below.

The mainstream media reports have mostly been citing the People’s Daily Online as the source, as they should. People’s Daily Online was the first publication to filter the news to the U.S. on September 13th. The incident happened on Saturday, September 11th.

Tim Brosnan at Technorati covered the incident on September 21st. Both Tim and I are confused over the “late” reporting, as well as some awkward reporting by the mainstream media. This applies, as well, to both the July Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport incident and the sighting in Chongqing a week later.

Another publication has been mentioned by the mainstream media related to the Inner Mongolia UFO incident: The Sun, the notorious British tabloid.

ABC News and other mainstream media outlets took interest in the report, it is said in some sources, when The Sun reported it. Since then, it has been a media frenzy of “fresh” UFO news. Not timely, but “fresh”. My readers actually thought that this was a brand new incident, since I had reported it over three weeks ago. I reassured those who were confused that it was not.

It’s the same one, only picked up late by mainstream media sources.

I’m not seeking credit for breaking UFO news. There is usually Internet chatter before I formally post.

Instead, I am wondering when a tabloid became a source that is more trusted than UFO/paranormal bloggers. I am also wondering why my articles have been lifted and barely re-written to avoid plagiarism. Right now, I am wondering about a lot of things.

My goal is to bring interesting stories to my readers. I hope that my readers don’t take offense at my venting at something that doesn’t concern them.

Rather, I am just putting it out there for anyone who is skimming my blog for news. It is happening way too much lately.

Another thing that I have to say is that anyone who reposts my articles with barely changed words, or simply removes my name, will certainly face legal action.

Kelly reluctantly attended the press conference in September, where retired Air Force men alleged that UFOs have interfered with nuclear weapons. Kelly didn’t have much to say about the press conference itself in his resulting article, except that he had a different motive for attending.

It seems that guests of the National Press Club receive some really delicious pastries and cookies.

So, as a result, many readers gave Kelly some really hateful comments on his original, and very bizarre, article. Kelly also received some really angry emails. On the other hand, some really nice readers offered to educate Kelly by sending him links to UFO websites and YouTube videos.

Kelly’s response to all this: a fresh article today that publishes few of these angry comments. Accompanying the article is a photo of the X-Files’ Scully and Mulder to further insult believers in UFO phenomena. To the helpful readers who attempted to educate him, he says he doesn’t have time to study. In other words, don’t waste your time, he won’t click through.

He added that with the allegedly advanced technology of aliens, he’s sure they can send him an email.

Personally, I’ve posted less since the press conference, and did not write about it, so I could gauge the reaction from various members of the media. I noticed a couple of things.

First, UFO reporting has increased, revealing some awkward reporting on the subject. I noticed this way back in July when the mainstream media “took over” the reporting of the China UFO/Xiaoshan Airport closure subject from bloggers. This was to ensure that the general public didn’t go into a panic, much to the relief of the Christian Science Monitor, who felt that bloggers weren’t as competent as the mainstream media. At the time, ABC News received accolades for their reporting, although it was late reporting. The reporting came full week after the incident.

Well, that brings up my next point, which is the late reporting. Suddenly, as a result of the conference, the media is finally reporting on the other airport shutdown in Inner Mongolia that occurred September 11th, that I reported on the 13th. I try to stay on top of these things. Yet, it is barely being picked up in the last couple of days by others. Better late than never, I guess.

However, the headlines should not imply breaking news. The headlines shouldn’t exaggerate the incident, either. ABC News to the rescue again with a video news report, posted today. More than three weeks after the incident. Enough said.

Not all members of the media have received criticism for their reporting. American Reporter gave praise to Gannett for the press conference reporting back in September. Gannett Company, Inc. owns dozens of daily newspapers in the U.S. and the UK, including the Tucson Citizen. The Tucson Citizen is no longer a newspaper. It is now a collection of blogs written by unpaid bloggers. Nevertheless, Gannett’s actual newspapers have covered the topic. Lately they have increased their coverage of all paranormal topics. Although many are still in the category of “Odd News”.

This is all okay. Baby steps. At least Gannett and other newspapers are covering the topic now. Better than nothing, I guess.

What is also okay is that some people will continue to poke fun, like Kelly. I have a couple theories about him. First, some people make fun of things because they feel uncomfortable or are very scared. Their only defense is to joke about it. Another thing I thought about is that he could be naturally ultra-skeptical. The CSICOP folks (The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) are already trying to discredit the retired Air Force men.

Kelly hasn’t made reference to them, though.

Rather than attacking Kelly or trying to educate him over a subject that he has no interest in, I suggest a couple of alternatives:

1. Comment on today’s Washington Post article with all the love you can muster. Don’t be mean about it. Tell him that it is okay that he doesn’t believe and that it is no skin off your nose. Comment nicely. He’s baiting UFO enthusiasts to prove that they are irrational fanatics. Don’t give him fuel.
2. Don’t read Kelly’s UFO articles if you feel so strongly about it. He’s getting tons of page views because of his anti-UFO views. Don’t feed his attempt to rile you up…OR
3. Give him food and a different kind of fuel. He appears to have an unhealthy obsession for sweet treats and trans-fats. Why not send him a nice gift card to the Cheesecake Factory or some other sweets shop? I just may do that this holiday season. Some people are highly influenced by food. After all, food lured him to the press conference in the first place.

Then, he can see that we are nice people.

If the attacks on Kelly cease, it will be no fun for him anymore to poke when he can’t get a reaction.

****UPDATE: ABC News posts article on “Fresh” UFO sighting in China from last month.

“Video shows an unidentified flying object whiz across the sky in England. Is it a UFO?”

Origin of the object aside…if the video shows an “unidentified flying object” and no one can identify the said object, then what else would you call it? In my experience, I would say that yes, it is a UFO.

Remember, UFOs don’t necessarily mean that the object originated from outer space.

Take a look and judge for yourself at MSNBC’s website. The video is a short interview with a man from the UK who captured the object on video. The interview took place earlier today on the Today show.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39501708

A book by journalist Leslie Kean, “UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record”, has sparked much of the debate. The book currently sits at number 29 on the New York Times Bestseller’s List . It is also the basis of what Boyle calls “dueling commentaries” between Leslie Kean and NBC News space analyst James Oberg.  MSNBC is the space where both have stated their cases:

Click here to see Oberg’s commentary.

Click here to read Kean’s rebuttal.

Robert Roy Britt at Live Science took note of what he calls a “UFO battle” between the two, in a commentary that supports Oberg’s point of view. After all, he simply sees Kean “playing on” the ‘unknown’ and predicts that these dueling journalists will only result in Kean winning increased sales of her book.

So, while Oberg has not yet responded to Kean’s rebuttal, Boyle ensures that the UFO topic continues to hover in cyberspace over at MSNBC’s web space.

To read Boyle’s article and to contribute your own UFO story, click here.