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The Missing Times: News Media Complicity in the UFO Cover-up
UFOs were a major news story across the U.S. in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. Today the subject is a virtual journalistic taboo. Why did this happen? The Missing Times answers this question by examining the historical relationship between the big media companies and the so-called national-security state. It explains how and why the U.S. government works with media companies to manage public opinion about UFOs and other 'national security' topics.
- GenresNonfiction
339 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 20, 2023
I've seen references and recommendations for this book in several UFO writings from the last decade and decided to check it out. It was written in 2000 by an independent journalist, Terry Hansen, and focuses on media complicity in the UFO cover-up, as the subtitle states, and it's still relevant today, 14 years later. It's also a great resource for information on censorship and propaganda in general, as we'll see.
It starts out with a short introduction on the way news media has covered (or not covered) big UFO stories, e.g., the 1970s UFO/ICBM encounters. Hansen observes that there are two realities in media: the official reality, represented by major national news corporations (which reflect official government views), and folk reality, which is often represented in local or regional, 'small-town' reporting. UFO stories, in particular, often make it into the local press, but rarely if ever into the national press, and when they do, it's usually because the story has already become so large that they have no other choice. But even then, they make sure to spin it, often with ridicule and no real presentation of the facts. What's the reason?
Hansen poses a question: if UFOs are or have been seen by military and officialdom as a national-security issue, what would that imply about media coverage? From documentation, it's clear that the UFO problem was seen as such, so the question is relevant. And 'national security' is so vague as to apply to military, defence, foreign-relations, economic, trade, scientific, technological, and balance-of-power objectives. And UFOs have definitely posed at least an apparent military threat; possible technological advances from study of them was conceivable; and as Carl Jung suggested, the idea of an alien intelligence would 'wrench the reins of power' from humans hands. More to the point, French astrophysicist Pierre Guerin said that UFOs frighten leaders because "they make it clear [that] world leaders are not in control of events." Later on, Hansen writes: "Remember that mass panic, political instability, and economic collapse are always possible should the full extent of the danger ever be revealed -- or even widely suspected. So an essential underlying concept of the deception campaign would have to be a consistently repeated denial that any problem exists." All 'good reasons' to view it as a nation-security problem.
Hansen then gives a very good history and summary of censorship and propaganda techniques and usage from the past century. Some highlights: WWI British intelligence techniques were used as a model by Nazi Goebbels. British techniques also largely inspired American ones. The war periods saw examples of overt censorship. In other words, people knew the truth, but were ordered to say nothing about it, legally. Media sources willingly complied with this censorship, as well as issuing official propaganda (directed both against enemies and citizens). After the war, censorship has been more covert, and Hansen describes the various methods by which this has been, and still is, done. One example is censorship 'choke points', e.g., the wire services. Stories that are covered locally can be prevented from becoming widespread by blocking them at the news wire level. This is most often the case with UFO coverage. Thus the official reality can give the illusion of being widespread, when it isn't.
Interesting is the relation of censorship and propaganda. As Hansen puts it, "Once an epistemological vacuum has been created through the use of censorship, the next step is to fill this conceptual void with false information, creating ... a 'pseudo-environment.'" Hansen traces the history of modern propaganda, focusing on Lippmann and Bernays. The rise of propaganda resembles a massive schizoidal declaration, in psychologist Andrew Lobaczewski's terms: "The Enlightenment view that people were essentially rational quickly gave way to a view of a public whose opinions and behavior can and should be engineered and managed by an intelligent elite. ... Bernays had utter contempt for the abilities of the average person to think about and understand the world. Consequently, he argued that the social terrain and mental scenery needed to be continuously monitored, modified, and adjusted by an elite class of opinion-molding tacticians who could channel public opinion in directions the elite desired." One way of doing this was "by staging seemingly spontaneous events that would induce the public to perceive the world in the ways desired." Then there were wholly fictitious means: atrocity stories. Sound familiar? Scan any newspaper today and you'll see the same techniques in action.
He then looks at each in turn, with examples of their use in relation to the UFO problem. In other words, he can't prove there has been a concerted censorship and propaganda campaign (using the media) in regard to UFOs, because such things are by necessity unprovable and secret (for reasons he gives in the book), but isn't it curious that there's evidence of every trick in the book being used. (This analysis makes up the bulk of the book.) He ends with a discussion of new media, the the benefits and pitfalls they share, e.g., the Internet, Cable TV, and talk radio. As he mentions, by 1995 there was already evidence that the CIA was using the Internet for psychological warfare, and he brings up the resemblance of Internet PR campaigns to psy-ops, and rightly observes that there's no reason to think such things aren't already happening (i.e., paid Internet trolls).
Not only is The Missing Times (****1/2) a an excellent example of journalism and scholarship of the UFO problem in relation to the media, but it's also and an invaluable source of information warfare in general. Cover stories, paid media plants, CIA-scripted articles and books, assassination, harassment, front organizations -- you name it, Hansen covers it. It's a clear and concise overview of how the media really works, and just how entrenched it is in a system that caters to the national-security state. And it's scary. With examples from all types of media (book publishing, print journalism, TV, Internet), the book is devastating in its destruction of the myth of a free press. And the insights it provides are essential in seeing through current media lies, not just in relation to UFOs. So even if you're not a "UFO buff" (to use one of the media's pejorative labels), I think this book is essential reading.
It starts out with a short introduction on the way news media has covered (or not covered) big UFO stories, e.g., the 1970s UFO/ICBM encounters. Hansen observes that there are two realities in media: the official reality, represented by major national news corporations (which reflect official government views), and folk reality, which is often represented in local or regional, 'small-town' reporting. UFO stories, in particular, often make it into the local press, but rarely if ever into the national press, and when they do, it's usually because the story has already become so large that they have no other choice. But even then, they make sure to spin it, often with ridicule and no real presentation of the facts. What's the reason?
Hansen poses a question: if UFOs are or have been seen by military and officialdom as a national-security issue, what would that imply about media coverage? From documentation, it's clear that the UFO problem was seen as such, so the question is relevant. And 'national security' is so vague as to apply to military, defence, foreign-relations, economic, trade, scientific, technological, and balance-of-power objectives. And UFOs have definitely posed at least an apparent military threat; possible technological advances from study of them was conceivable; and as Carl Jung suggested, the idea of an alien intelligence would 'wrench the reins of power' from humans hands. More to the point, French astrophysicist Pierre Guerin said that UFOs frighten leaders because "they make it clear [that] world leaders are not in control of events." Later on, Hansen writes: "Remember that mass panic, political instability, and economic collapse are always possible should the full extent of the danger ever be revealed -- or even widely suspected. So an essential underlying concept of the deception campaign would have to be a consistently repeated denial that any problem exists." All 'good reasons' to view it as a nation-security problem.
Hansen then gives a very good history and summary of censorship and propaganda techniques and usage from the past century. Some highlights: WWI British intelligence techniques were used as a model by Nazi Goebbels. British techniques also largely inspired American ones. The war periods saw examples of overt censorship. In other words, people knew the truth, but were ordered to say nothing about it, legally. Media sources willingly complied with this censorship, as well as issuing official propaganda (directed both against enemies and citizens). After the war, censorship has been more covert, and Hansen describes the various methods by which this has been, and still is, done. One example is censorship 'choke points', e.g., the wire services. Stories that are covered locally can be prevented from becoming widespread by blocking them at the news wire level. This is most often the case with UFO coverage. Thus the official reality can give the illusion of being widespread, when it isn't.
Interesting is the relation of censorship and propaganda. As Hansen puts it, "Once an epistemological vacuum has been created through the use of censorship, the next step is to fill this conceptual void with false information, creating ... a 'pseudo-environment.'" Hansen traces the history of modern propaganda, focusing on Lippmann and Bernays. The rise of propaganda resembles a massive schizoidal declaration, in psychologist Andrew Lobaczewski's terms: "The Enlightenment view that people were essentially rational quickly gave way to a view of a public whose opinions and behavior can and should be engineered and managed by an intelligent elite. ... Bernays had utter contempt for the abilities of the average person to think about and understand the world. Consequently, he argued that the social terrain and mental scenery needed to be continuously monitored, modified, and adjusted by an elite class of opinion-molding tacticians who could channel public opinion in directions the elite desired." One way of doing this was "by staging seemingly spontaneous events that would induce the public to perceive the world in the ways desired." Then there were wholly fictitious means: atrocity stories. Sound familiar? Scan any newspaper today and you'll see the same techniques in action.
He then looks at each in turn, with examples of their use in relation to the UFO problem. In other words, he can't prove there has been a concerted censorship and propaganda campaign (using the media) in regard to UFOs, because such things are by necessity unprovable and secret (for reasons he gives in the book), but isn't it curious that there's evidence of every trick in the book being used. (This analysis makes up the bulk of the book.) He ends with a discussion of new media, the the benefits and pitfalls they share, e.g., the Internet, Cable TV, and talk radio. As he mentions, by 1995 there was already evidence that the CIA was using the Internet for psychological warfare, and he brings up the resemblance of Internet PR campaigns to psy-ops, and rightly observes that there's no reason to think such things aren't already happening (i.e., paid Internet trolls).
Not only is The Missing Times (****1/2) a an excellent example of journalism and scholarship of the UFO problem in relation to the media, but it's also and an invaluable source of information warfare in general. Cover stories, paid media plants, CIA-scripted articles and books, assassination, harassment, front organizations -- you name it, Hansen covers it. It's a clear and concise overview of how the media really works, and just how entrenched it is in a system that caters to the national-security state. And it's scary. With examples from all types of media (book publishing, print journalism, TV, Internet), the book is devastating in its destruction of the myth of a free press. And the insights it provides are essential in seeing through current media lies, not just in relation to UFOs. So even if you're not a "UFO buff" (to use one of the media's pejorative labels), I think this book is essential reading.
January 28, 2024
Excellent book on the participation of the media in the UFO cover, and the construction of the fake environment that we live in, the author compiles many examples where this is true, and also how it works, the modus operandi of many agencies, and how this psy op is carried on. Very simple to read, loads of good information, this book has been influential and I recommend every researcher to read it. ASAP. Several times the author just expresses in a simple way something that I wanted to spill out in a less compact manner. Good stuff.
July 14, 2014
20% of the book is footnotes and sourcing. This is a sober and serious look at the corporate media's relationship with governmental statist power structures - regardless of regimes. If one were to omit the esoteric primary subject they would still engage in a fascinating and enlightening history of propaganda and mass psy ops disseminated through various media channels. Citizens and individuals should be aware of the external suggestive pressures foisted upon them by parties whose interests may run counter to truth and freedom. So there you have it. I read this stuff so ya'll don't have to. Peace.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews