By Frank Warren
The UFO Chronicles
1-5-07
Mainstream media’s interest in the “O’Hare UFO Incident” hasn’t waned yet; the latest to jump in on the UFO bandwagon was/is Anderson Cooper of
Anderson Cooper 360° aired by CNN.
Interesting to note that on CNN’s web-site for Cooper’s show, it’s described as follows:
“ . . . a fast-moving, surprising and provocative alternative to the typical network evening newscast. Backed by the global resources of CNN.”
For this particular episode nothing could be further from the truth; this broadcast couldn’t be anymore
typical in regards to the media’s handling of the UFO subject, certainly wasn’t provocative, and by no means was a surprise! Moreover, if skeptic Joe Nickell is considered to be one of CNN’s “global resources,” then one can imagine the caliber of this particular segment!
To be honest, up until now, I have looked at Anderson Cooper as a breath of fresh air in regards to television journalism; I must admit I was anticipating at the very least a serious look into the matter; however, Cooper followed the same path as those before him (historically speaking) in making light of the incident. This by the way is concerning an
unidentified, unauthorized aircraft directly over the second busiest airport in our nation;
witnessed by several airport personnel! All this in a post 911 world during a period when our nation is at war!
It didn’t take long to realize that investigative journalism was going to go by the wayside in regards to this segment; in my view, it was transparent this was a ratings ploy by CNN since this story is so hot right now!
Right out of the gate as Cooper was priming the pump for the segment, he immediately painted it with a
Roswell brush. Rather then take a construct view of this incident; he immediately attaches an
alien stigma to it! Given the disparaging questions that would follow by the boots on the ground reporter, Gary Tuchman, and later a commentary by known debunker Joe Nickell it would seem, in my view, there was willful intent in steering the viewer to a particular conclusion.
The first question out of Tuchman’s mouth was, “You don't believe this was possibly your imagination?” (
Ad nauseum).
Tuchman’s tone and further questioning was typical of what Americans come to expect from the mainstream media when they broach the subject of UFOs. (Which is a rare phenomenon unto itself). Usually, (at least as of late) the rib-poking and guffaws and altogether light approach to the subject is associated with a distant light in the sky; in this instance it’s about a“structured craft over a very busy airport (second only to Atlanta), witnessed by trained airport personal. One would think that in a post 911 world, and a nation that is constantly being reminded that it is at war, the attitude by those in the media, particularly that of CNN, would be more of a concerned, investigative, unbiased position—especially when it concerns at the very least
unauthorized aircraft over one of our nations airports!
I found the segment to be disheartening to say the least—you be the judge:
COOPER: Such a strange story.
Another mystery in the sky, this time here in the states. You may have heard about the strange sighting over O'Hare International Airport. Could Chicago be the new Roswell, New Mexico? That's what some are asking.
CNN's Gary Tuchman talked to one of the airport workers about what he says he saw.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Flights come to Chicago's O'Hare Airport from all over the world. But do they come from other worlds?
(on camera) You don't believe this was possibly your imagination?
"JOE", AIRPLANE MECHANIC: It was definitely not my imagination.
TUCHMAN: (voice-over): Joe is a mechanic for United Airlines. While taxing a jumbo jet to the hangar, he and another mechanic...
JOE: Looked out the window in the general direction and noticed an object up in the sky, dark gray object, sitting above the terminal complex.
TUCHMAN: Joe, which is not his real name, is one of several airport workers, some of whom have talked to the "Chicago Tribune", who said they saw a saucer-shaped UFO hovering just beneath the clouds at the airport.
He's the first to go on camera to talk about it since this happened several weeks ago. He wants to remain anonymous.
(on camera) But you're sure it was some kind of object that normally would not be above O'Hare Airport?
JOE: I've been at O'Hare for quite some time. And let's just say that I've never seen an object in my time that looked like this. And I'll tell you definitely it was not an airplane as we know it.
TUCHMAN: But it could be an airplane as another world knows it?
JOE: Possibly.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): We brought in one of Chicago's top sketch artists...
JOE: Followed the contours of the object.
TUCHMAN: ... to listen to Joe and draw a picture of what he says he saw.
JOE: More like an oval, dark gray oval.
TUCHMAN: Because no photos have surfaced, and Joe doesn't know of any.
(on camera): It didn't say "Goodyear" on it, did it?
JOE: No "Goodyear," no.
That's a really good drawing.
TUCHMAN: That's what it looks like?
JOE: Very much so, yes.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Other witnesses told an organization called the National UFO Reporting Center that the object eventually shot straight up in the sky at a great rate of speed.
JOE: It looked like literally someone had poked a hole in the clouds, just a round hole.
TUCHMAN: Joe thinks the disk is either a stealthy military project or a spacecraft from another planet. But... Joe I find it very strange or very peculiar that somebody who possesses the technology to travel between star systems would sit over an airport in Chicago.
TUCHMAN: Hard to argue that.
A spokesperson for United Airlines says, "We are aware of what the employees said they saw, but this is not something United would investigate." Talk to the FAA, says the airline.
The TSA and the Chicago Department of Aviation also told us to talk to the FAA. So we did. And an FAA spokesperson told us, "We, too, don't have the power to investigate." The FAA adds that radar did not pick up anything out of the ordinary and the sighting might have been caused by a weather phenomenon.
(on camera) You don't believe it was a weather phenomenon?
JOE: Not at all. Not for a minute.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): O'Hare has apparently been UFO free since that November afternoon, although Joe now tends to pay special attention to that same patch of airport sky.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: As you heard in Gary's piece, the FAA says what the airport worker saw was most likely caused by a weather phenomenon. But the workers are still not convinced.
Earlier, I spoke with Joe Nichol, investigative columnist for Skeptical Inquirer magazine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: You know, Joe, as we just heard a lot of these witnesses say they saw a dark gray saucer flying under the clouds. What could this be?
JOE NICHOL, COLUMNIST, "SKEPTICAL INQUIRER": No one seems to know, and that's the thing about unidentified flying objects. They're real in the sense that, yes, people see things, and they don't know what they are.
The problem is, you can't infer from an "I don't know" that you do know. You can't say I don't know what it is and then, therefore, it's an extraterrestrial craft.
There really are all kinds of things, Anderson, in the sky, from weather balloons, all kinds of atmospheric phenomena, meteors, space debris, secret government planes, various blimps, not all of them with "Goodyear" on it. And we see these under strange and unusual conditions, and oftentimes we don't know what they are. COOPER: Do you simply not believe that extraterrestrials exist, or do you hold it out as a possibility, but you just want to see the evidence?
NICHOL: Belief is not really a word that science uses a lot. That's -- that's a different domain. But really there may be extraterrestrials. No one can deny that there -- there could be.
The question is, are extraterrestrials visiting the planet earth? And to date we have a huge amount of evidence that they are, but it's very, very poor evidence. It's not...
COOPER: You look at -- you look back at Roswell in 1947. That's probably the thing that a lot of people cite as probably the most famous unidentified flying object. You were just down in the Mohave investigating. What did you find out?
NICHOL: Well, we did a test in the Mohave Desert relating to the Roswell, New Mexico, crash, as you mentioned, in 1947. And we think we know exactly what crashed on Mack Brazel's ranch.
He came into town and talked about finding this strange debris. And it was -- he described it as foil paper, sticks, string, tape, and rubber. And we now know that a secret United States government spy balloon from Project Mogul was missing in that area.
And if you look at photographs of the wreckage and compare it to Mogul wreckage, it's very clear that that's what it was. It was a spy balloon.
COOPER: There's also this video from a couple of years ago. The Mexican air force I guess it was, released a video. They said it was -- it was 11 unidentified objects that they shot. We're looking at it.
NICHOL: 2004?
COOPER: Yes.
NICHOL: Yes. Those are oil well flares in the Bay of Campeche. They have been clearly identified now.
This is -- this is instructive for us because what happens is somebody sees something. They don't know what it is. Sometimes they have video for us to look at. It gets a huge amount of attention, all of which promotes the idea that there are UFOs. Then people do the hard work and figure out what it is, and that, nobody's interested then, and it sort of fades away.
So we're always getting these new, fresh reports as we're doing now. And by the time we -- we figure it out, if we do, there may be less interest.
COOPER: And yet there are always people who will believe, until I guess proven otherwise. Joe, it's good to talk to you again. Joe Nichol, thanks. NICHOL: Same here, Anderson. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
.jpg "O'Hare UFO Sketch")