David Bloomberg
P.O. Box 20302
Springfield, IL 62708
February 19, 1999
NBC Viewer Relations
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
To Whom It May Concern:
Only a few months ago, I wrote to express my gratitude with NBC for exposing supposedly paranormal events in your Unmasked show. Now that February sweeps comes around, I found myself watching one of the standard pro-paranormal shows we so often see when ratings become more important than the truth. I am, of course, talking about Confirmation: The Hard Evidence of Aliens Among Us?
Indeed, I find it hard to believe that the same network that airs Dateline — a fine news show that has critically examined a number of extraordinary claims (such as alternative medicine, Gypsy fortune telling, etc.) — would lower themselves to airing something that is better suited to a supermarket tabloid.
Sure, a few skeptics were included, but you overwhelmed the viewer with all sorts of nonsense, including recreations that were not labeled as such (a disclaimer saying that some of the stuff we’ll see are dramatizations just doesn’t cut it). You aired discredited stories as if they were factual, and handed over the microphone to Whitley Strieber — certainly not an unbiased source for these types of claims.
All in all, the show was obviously aimed at getting ratings rather than getting to the facts, and it debased NBC to broadcast such a program. I hope in the future a quest for ratings will not cause such a lapse in moral character at your network.
Sincerely,
David Bloomberg, Chairman
Rational Examination
Association of Lincoln Land
