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King of the Paranormal King of the Paranormal CNN's Larry King Live has a long history of outrageous promotion of UFOs, psychics, and spiritualists. CHRIS MOONEY roadcast on CNN, the July 1, 2003, installment of Larry King Live was a sight to behold. The program, Bin Kings words, explored "the incredible events of fifty-six years ago at Roswell, New Mexico." What most likely crashed at Roswell in 1947 was a government spy bal- loon, but the panel of guests assembled on King's show pre- ferred a more sensational version of events. Jesse Marcel, Jr., son of a Roswell intelligence officer, claimed that just after the crash, his father showed him bits of debris that "came from another civilization" (Marcel 2003). Glenn Dennis, who worked at a Roswell funeral home at the time, said a military officer called him to ask about the availability of small caskets (i.e., for dead aliens). Later Dennis, obviously SKEPTICAL INQUIRER November/December 2003 a UFO enthusiast, abruptly observed that the pyramids in Roswell crash site. Doleman admitted to King rJiat his dig had Egypt had recently been "[shut down] for three or four days not yet yielded any definitive evidence, but added that the and no tourists going out there on account of the sightings" "results" of his analysis will air on Sci-Fi in October—as (Dennis 2003). opposed to, say, being published in a peer-reviewed scientific King's program didn't merely advance the notion that an journal (Doleman 2003). [See also David E. Thomas, "Bait alien spacecraft crashed at Roswell in 1947. It also hawked the and Switch on 'Roswell: The Smoking Gun,'" SKEPTICAL DVD version of a recent Sci-Fi Channel documentary, "The INQUIRER, March/April 2003.] Roswell Crash: Startling New Evidence," clips of which Sci-Fi is an entertainment network, and can arguably air appeared throughout the hour. A breathy and sensationalized whatever it wants, including pseudodocumentaries hyping the take on the events of 1947, "The Roswell Crash" first appeared Roswell myth. But Larry King is different. King regularly as a tie-in for Sci-Fi's fictional miniseries Taken, a Steven interviews senators, former presidents, and heads of state. One Spielberg production tracing the impact of UFO abductions would expect him to hew to basic standards of journalistic on three generations of American families. Other Taken tie-ins rigor and balance. On July 1, however. King presided over a that tend to blur the line between fact and fiction include a thoroughly biased discussion of the Roswell question that documentary titled Abduction Diaries, a Roper Poll finding eschewed historical accuracy and gave a big boost to Sci-Fi's that Americans are ready for the discovery of extraterrestrial paranormalist marketing strategies. Project Mogul, a secret life, and even the launching of the Coalition for Freedom of government program to develop spy balloons, counts as a Information, an advocacy group devoted to unearthing classi- strong candidate for the source of the Roswell incident (see fied government documents about aliens (Mooney 2002). Thomas 1995). One Roswell expert, New Mexico physicist Sure enough, King's July 1 guests included two people with and mathematician Dave Thomas, told me that King's pro- Sci-Fi ties: Leslie Kean, a left-wing journalist turned UFO gram failed entirely to explain this. 1 investigator who works with the Coalition for Freedom of Does CNN, the "most trusted name in news," take respon- Information, and William Doleman, a University of New sibility for the factual content and balance of Larry King Live? Mexico archaeologist contracted by Sci-Fi to excavate the This article attempts to answer that question. After all. King's July 1 Roswell program was no aberration. King has hosted uncritical shows about UFOs in the past, and he probably devotes more air time to spiritualist mediums like John Edward, Sylvia Browne, and Rosemary Altea than to America's the World at Hand?," "Paranormal Warfare—A Secret UFO obsessives. No other serious cable news anchor treats the Military Power?," "Is Exorcism Real?," and "Are Some Persons paranormal in the consistently promotional way that Larry Programmed for UFO Contact?" interspersed with more seri- King does, which more resembles the approach of Montel ous programs (King 1990a, 1990b, 1991, 1992). Sometimes Williams or Jerry Springer than that of a trusted journalist. these shows have included skeptics, but King frequently In researching this article, I interviewed four leading skep- devotes entire programs to paranormal topics widi nary a tics who have appeared skeptic to be seen, as was on Larry King Live, seek- the case with the July 1 ing their perceptions of Roswell program. In fact, why the program consis- a study by Matthew tently promotes the para- Nisbet found that even in normal, sometimes with- one case where King out airing any critical included skeptics on his perspective at all. I also program, these doubters attempted to contact were granted dramatically King or his producers to fewer total seconds of seek a response to the speaking time than the skeptics' criticisms. My paranormalists (Nisbet request, however, was 2001a). unmet. As a result, I have Possibly the most trou- been left with no choice blesome aspect of King's but to privilege the skep- promotion of the para- tical perspective, which normal involves spiritual- views Larry King Live as ism, the contacting-the- dead movement that a depressing example of A(leged ^chic Roserr,ary Altea says she can see the "guardian spirits" of earthlings began in the nineteenth the way that marketing and can travel "astrally" out of her body to points around the world. century with the "rap- values and the demand for viewers can trump journalistic responsibility. This process pings" of the Fox Sisters and evolved into the televised psychic leads otherwise trustworthy media outlets to inflate the repu- mediumship seen today on programs like Crossing Over with tations of psychics and promoters of the paranormal because John Edward (a Sci-Fi production that originated after the they draw in hordes of credulous viewers. CNN may be a channel's president saw Edward on Larry King Live [Ballard respected news network, but in its irresponsible presentation 2001]). Prior to his July 1 Roswell program, King's most recent of paranormal topics and themes, Larry King Live compro- foray into the paranormal was a May 16 interview with popu- mises that reputation. lar psychic Sylvia Browne, whose Web site attests that she is "truly on a mission from God" (Browne 2003), and who fre- Larry King's Paranormal Journalism quently dispenses explicit health advice despite her lack of med- ical qualifications (Farha 2003; see "Sylvia Browne: TV Psychic On CNN's Web site, Larry King's impressive personal page Sidesteps Challenge," page 41 of this issue). An excerpt from presents the sixty-nine-year-old anchor as a true lion of jour- the show transcript demonstrates just how low these programs nalism (King 2003). King, the page notes, hosted the famous can go, and how willingly King plays along [Browne 2003b]: 1993 debate between Ross Perot and Al Gore over the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, which broke CNN records by King: Do you believe in angels? drawing in some 16 million viewers. King also conducted Sylvia Browne: Oh, yes. "award-winning jailhouse interviews" with Karla Faye Tucker King: What arc they? and Mike Tyson, and has won journalism accolades ranging Browne: They're actually the (unintelligible) that was from the Allen H. Neuharth Award for Excellence in made by God to protect us. I mean, they're not. .. Journalism to the George Foster Peabody Award for Excellence King: Bad people have angels? in Broadcasting. Indeed, over the years King has conducted Browne: You know, bad people, I've never seen bad people interviews with pretty much anybody who's anybody, celebri- have angels. That's interesting you should ask that, because I've ties and politicians alike. Some top tier interviewees include never seen angels around bad people. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev and King: Do they look like the drawings of angels? Browne: Yes. Vladimir Putin, and Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher. King: The)' do? You might be surprised to hear that someone so decorated could be guilty of repeatedly treating a certain topic—the paranormal—in a fashion that betrays virtually all journalistic Chris Mooney is a freelance writer and SKEPTICAL INQUIRER con- standards. If you cast a glance back at King's various shows tributing editor who lives in Palo Alto. California, and a colum- over the years, however, you will find titles like "Is the End of nist for www.csicop.org. His Web site is www.chriscmooneycom. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER November/December 2003 37 Browne: And I didn't think they had wings. I thought that other vague data, and then waits for callers to take the bait and was just some stupid... suggest he's on to something. Edward also asks questions, King: Sylvia, Sylvia, come on. You see people with wings? makes educated guesses, and feeds ofF reactions for more infor- Browne: Yes. I used to tell people they didn't have wings, mation. His statements are often wrong, and when they're Larry. And then I saw one with wings, and then I had to go right it's only in a vague way. But the willingness of callers to back up on stage and say, I'm sorry, I lied. They have wings. seize upon Edward's "hits" and ignore his "misses" makes his King: Why do you see them and I don't? performance seem believable. (See also James Underdown, Browne: I don't know.
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