The role the news media plays in U.S. culture entails much more than writing articles.
4/19/2000
The Politics of UFOs -- Stephen Bassett discusses the political implications surrounding the presence of extraterrestrials in our world.
"For the best part of 50 years, when the biggest story of all time and the seminal event in human history phoned in, the 'fourth estate' was screening its calls." -- Stephen Bassett
Washington, DC - The role the news media plays in U.S. culture entails much more than writing articles. This "fourth estate" is an essential part of the check-and-balance system created by the U.S. Constitution. News media are the eyes and ears of the public. Sometimes they are its voice. They are paid to tell us what the public institutions are doing and to convey our concerns to those same institutions in the form of commentary.
For the best part of 50 years, when the biggest story of all time and the seminal event in human history phoned in, the fourth estate was screening its calls.
For those who attempted to make those calls, the voice mail menu was easy to understand: "This is your favorite, mainstream news desk. If you have information about anyone who has ever slept with the President, press one and a reporter will be with you immediately. If you have any information regarding UFOs and other extraterrestrial phenomena, press two and leave a message. We might get back to you when and if we stop laughing."
Every top-tier news venue in this country has been approached countless times by citizens and researchers with events and evidence relating to extraterrestrial phenomena. These editors have not done their job, and in this instance have abrogated their mandate to report and investigate a most critical matter impacting our society.
The new media structure
At the end of the 20th Century, the circumstances of coverage have changed. The most respected news organizations, such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and ABC-NBC-CBS-CNN news television, still steadfastly refuse to properly investigate extraterrestrial phenomena and the process of disclosure. In the meantime, there has been an explosion of alternative media to fill the vacuum created by their absence.
To no one's surprise, a multi-tiered news-media structure has evolved simultaneously with the most important technological innovation in history - the Internet. The acceptance of this structure by the general public has meant that any news story, regardless of its controversy or inconvenience to established authority, has a point of entry into the national news marketplace.
It is commonplace for particularly controversial news stories to break in with lower-tier media, then progress upward when always-nervous, higher-tier editors are forced to follow up or lose story position. During the '90s this certainly was the case with extraterrestrial related phenomena.
Examples abound. The April, 1997 Phoenix, Arizona event was one of the most spectacular set of sightings in American history. The top-tier media wanted nothing to do with it, and might have ignored it completely had it not been for the candid comments and queries by Phoenix Councilwoman Frances Barwood. Her comments drew renewed attention as a political story. However, it was the second-tier USA Today which came forward with an excellent piece on the event by Richard Price.
By now 50 million plus cable television subscribers have figured out that the third-tier TLC and Discovery Channel (Discovery Communications, Inc.), Arts and Entertainment Network (A&E), and the History Channel have established a library of UFO/ET documentaries which they are airing and re-airing. New ones are being added.
The "Face on Mars/Cydonia" story, which has now been covered by every tier level at one time or another, was first introduced to the larger public in tier-six and tier-seven tabloids.
Are journalists finally getting it?
Such trends notwithstanding, it still takes courage for any journalist to address the extraterrestrial phenomena subject. The higher up the tier structure, the greater the courage. While their number is not commensurate with the magnitude of the story, slowly reporters, with the support of some editors, are stepping to the plate. They deserve to be recognized. Examples would include Paul Hoversten and Richard Price of USA Today, Billy Cox of Florida Today, and Julia Duin of the Washington Times.
Meanwhile, as America's editors ponder whether to get their act together, can a breakthrough from a single journalistic source take place? Yes.
While it may not yet be apparent to the interested public, the editors and producers of some top-tier news outlets are taking meetings behind the scenes on the matter of the extraterrestrial presence and the government suppression of this information from the public. The relentless pressure of the public to know, and the increasing media competition makes an investigative breakthrough by at least one top-tier news outlet inevitable.
Once formally in play, the subject will be fully engaged by the entire media structure. The fourth estate will finally fulfill its role, leaving the government with nowhere to turn but outward, to the waiting public. Weakened by
internal defections and under tremendous pressure from wide-open investigative reporting, the cover-up will collapse. The new paradigm will begin.