The New York Times has a remarkably balanced article on UFOs

Article title from the New York Times with the word "Proves" in it

The New York Times has recently published a remarkably even-keeled article about a recent UFO book. The article is linked HERE.

The book is titled UFO Sightings Desk Reference: United States of America 2001-2015, by Cheryl Costa and Linda Miller Costa. I haven't read the book, but it appears to be a thorough collection of statistical analysis of data collected by MUFON and NUFORC. The stats are broken down by state complete with graphs and year by year charts. What is remarkable is that the "paper of record" is treating this subject so blandly, as if it were a book detailing the annual facts and figures about car accidents.

This book is not any kind of sensationalistic expose, it's is a self published labor of love from two number crunchers.

typical page from the book full of facts and figure 

The article was penned by veteran journalist Ralph Blumenthal (right). A staff reporter for the NYTimes from from 1964 to 2009. He is now a free lance contributor to the paper, as well as the author of six non-fiction books mostly dealing with crime and police work. How this article made it into the pages of such a stoic paper leave me mystified.

Blumenthal is now in his mid-70's and maybe he's achieved the kind of standing at the paper where they'll just print whatever he drops on the editor's desk.

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Text added Wed April 26:

I sent an email to Ralph Blumenthal, the author of the recent UFO article in the NYTimes. Below is my letter to him, and his reply.

I read your recent article about the 'UFO Sightings Desk Reference’ book. It struck me as remarkably even-keeled for a subject that is consistently dismissed by the main stream press. My question: How did that article make it into the pages of the New York Times? I have been researching the subject of UFOs and found your article remarkably refreshing and unbiased. 

Thank you.
with regards,
Mike Clelland
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Thanks, I'm aware of the Times's record on the subject. I was a reporter there for many years and know the editorial mindset so was able to pitch it sensitively. Also I'm writing a book on John Mack. 

Best wishes,
Ralph Blumenthal

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Of note:
Blumenthal penned an excellent article about John Mack in Vanity Fair back in May of 2013—linked HERE. Like the article in the Times, this was also remarkably balanced.

self published cover image

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new podcast series from Ryan Sprague

nice logo!

Ryan Sprague now has his very own podcast series. He is already on - like - five other podcasts, but he shares the mic with other hosts on all those other ones. I think he might find that doin' his own thing will allow for some deeper exploration.

Here's the inaugural episode, with Richard Dolan! (linked HERE)

UFO Hub video - Owls and UFO Contact

interview recorded in April of 2017 in Eureka Springs Arkansas

It was a delight to take part in this video. The director has a vision—and he's produced a series of high quality interviews.

The camera-man asked a few questions but his voice was edited out of the completed video, creating something calm and sparse. This was recorded at the 30th Anniversary of the Ozark Mountain UFO Conference, and I honored to have been a part of this wonderful event.

The chair where the recording happened

I realize that I need to explain my experiences to people who know nothing about me. This means telling the things stories over and over, and anyone familiar with what I've shared will recognize a few of these stories. No sound bites here, I was allowed to talk about my experiences and research without any pressure to make it seem zippy and fast paced. Thank you Adnan!

  more from UFO HUB here  

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