04/24/2026
JOURNALISTS FUEL UFOLOGY’S LATEST OBSESSION: TURNING PEOPLE INTO CONSPIRACIES
There once was a clear line in journalism, where reporting ends and the exploitation of others began. Lately, that line feels almost optional. The recent surge in stories about the “missing scientists” says a lot about where parts of the media are heading. It’s not just about what happened anymore, it’s about how far can one story can be pushed.
When a scientist disappears or dies under difficult circumstances, there are real people affected, families, friends, coworkers. Real lives interrupted. But in some corners of the media, those details were recently stripped down, repurposed and exploited. Any gaps in information became “mysteries," all previous explanations confirmed now ignored. Before long, a very real person turned into a character in a story about cover-ups and government secrets. The human being at the center of it all disappeared.
What makes it worse is how little thought seems to go into the impact on the people closest to the situation. Imagine losing someone and then seeing strangers online pick apart their life, suggesting they were “silenced” or “knew too much.” It’s not just wrong, it’s intrusive. It takes something deeply personal and turns it into public speculation and a media circus. And you have to ask, who is all of this really for?
Most of the time, it comes down to the attention it brings and the outrage attached to it that helps it spread quickly. In this case both benefit the media and certain narratives running rampant in ufology in their own twisted ways. Mystery pulls people in. Conspiracies keep them locked in. These types of stories are meant more to provoke a reaction than to actually spread valuable information to the public.
So what happened to reporting? At its core, journalism is supposed to be about getting things right, checking facts, objectively reporting and treating people with some level of respect. That kind of work still exists, but it’s competing with the louder, quicker, and far less careful version of reporting we are starting to see more of today. A version of the media that continuously rewards how much speculation can be attached to a story and how much fuel is needed to burn the fire to keep the same story alive as long as possible.
Everything about this should bother people. Because it loses sight of something simple: The normalization of the loss of dignity for others. It should also serve as a warning sign that ufology continues to be full of people who support these narratives, which is part of the crutch that holds the field back.
