Randi/Primetime's John of God/Larry King

[SherryA]

What to do about the travesty of Randi's treatment on Primetime Live's "John of God" episode? What about Randi on Larry King Live for the full hour? Just Randi.

JUST JAMES RANDI FOR THE FULL HOUR ON LARRY KING LIVE, Randi getting in his say, having his accomplishments and credentials at least partly acknowledged.

You may say I'm a dreamer, but (I hope) I'm not the only one. The link to CNN's contact form is below.

Who knows what might happen if 100 people emailed Larry King Live and suggested it? A thousand? Could they ignore it? I'm emailing them right now. -- Sherry Austin.


http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?12

[alfaniner]

Awesome and enlightening commentary this week. I didn't mind the length at all, in fact, the more, the better.

Naturally this segment occurred during sweeps month. Ever notice that all I-Team investigations only take place during February, May, July, or November? Maybe for May some other network, or even a local station, could do a debunking of this farce.

[Brown]

I sent an e-mail to ABC News today urging ABC to include on its website the address of Mr. Randi's commentary.

The ABC News web site already lists the addresses of four other sites, with the introduction: "To learn more about John of God and the people in this story, you may wish to visit the following Web sites...." Mr. Randi, I pointed out, was one of the "people in the story."

Edited to add: I urged only the web site issue. I decided to withhold my criticism of ABC News's "reportage," my assertion that ABC News's reputation as a reporter of scientific and medical news has been tarnished, my opinion that ABC News should have consulted its own medical experts, and my outrage that the ABC News report will no doubt cause many people to abandon science-based treatment in favor of the false promises of this phony witch doctor.

[SherryA]

I sent an e-mail to ABC News today urging ABC to include on its website the address of Mr. Randi's commentary.


I love that idea, Brown! I'm going to do the same right now. --- Sherry A.

[alfaniner]

I see that ABC has a 20/20 coming up on exposing health myths.

I tried copying the blurb, but I can't access any of their sub-pages without Explorer locking up. It's worse than trying to navigate the current JREF Forums...

[Garrette]

I, too, e-mailed ABC in general and PrimeTime in particular (the two addresses listed in the commentary).

I was far harsher in this e-mail than I have been in any other correspondence I have sent regarding shoddy reporting.

I followed up with a separate e-mail about the upcoming UFO special and my expectations (contrasting my hopes with my realism) regarding that.

But I added something new this time. I said I understood that I represent what they (ABC) probably believe to be a small minority of the viewership and that they would therefore probably ignore my comments.

So I said I intend to discover their sponsors who had airtime during the John of God special and who will have airtime during the UFO special. I will contact those sponsors and let them know that if they continue to support such harmful and deceitful programming I will no longer purchase their products.

Hit them in their wallets and all that.

For those of you who hold out hopes that the UFO special will be any better, the following is copied from here: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Primetime/story?id=468496 (sorry I can't put it in a short name form; I'm getting runtime errors when I try to do that).

Feb. 4, 2005 -- Almost 50 percent of Americans, according to recent polls, and millions of people elsewhere in the world believe that UFOs are real. For many it is a deeply held belief.
For decades there have been sightings of UFOs by millions and millions of people. It is a mystery that only science can solve, and yet the phenomenon remains largely unexamined. Most of the reporting on this subject by the mainstream media holds those who claim to have seen UFOs up to ridicule.
n Feb. 24, "Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs — Seeing Is Believing" takes a fresh look at the UFO phenomenon. "As a journalist," says Jennings, "I began this project with a healthy dose of skepticism and as open a mind as possible. After almost 150 interviews with scientists, investigators and with many of those who claim to have witnessed unidentified flying objects, there are important questions that have not been completely answered — and a great deal not fully explained."
"Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs — Seeing Is Believing" airs Thursday, Feb. 24 from 8-10 p.m. ET on ABC. The program will be broadcast in High Definition.
This two-hour primetime special reports on the entire scope of the UFO experience — from the first famous sighting by Kenneth Arnold in 1947 to the present day. The program draws on interviews with police officers, pilots, military personnel, scientists and ordinary citizens who give extraordinary accounts of encounters with the unexplained. Also included are the voices of professional skeptics about UFOs, including scientists who are leading the search for life forms beyond Earth elsewhere in the universe.
The program explores the facts behind the enduring mystery of the incident at Roswell, N.M., and looks into the strange stories of alien abductions. Among the UFO cases presented:
Minot Air Force Base, N.D., October 1968 — Sixteen airmen on the ground and the crew of an airborne B-52 witness a massive unidentified object hovering near the base.
Phoenix, March 1997 — Hundreds witness a huge triangular craft moving slowly over the city.
St. Clair County, Ill., January 2000 — Police officers in five adjoining towns all independently report witnessing a giant craft with multiple bright lights moving silently across the sky at a very low altitude.
Today if you report a UFO to the U.S. government you will be informed that the Air Force conducted a 22-year investigation that ended in 1969 and concluded that UFOs are not a threat to national security and are of no scientific interest. But as one of the world's leading theoretical physicists says in the program, "You simply cannot dismiss the possibility that some of these UFO sightings are actually sightings from some object created by … a civilization perhaps millions of years ahead of us in technology."
"Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs — Seeing Is Believing" is produced by PJ Productions and Springs Media for ABC News. Mark Obenhaus and Tom Yellin are the executive producers.

[Billy]

I am in the UK and haven't seen the show. But I am not in the least surprised at the tactics of this sort of "documentary".

I think it is all very well complaining to the TV company about the show. But I am not sure what good it would do, as with his experiences on the Carson show - there are probably just as many people wanting the contact details of "John of God" as there are complaints, if not more.

Maybe it would be an idea to start emailing their rival TV companies suggesting they run a spoiler ( featuring James Randi of course). This sort of practise is common in the TV and Newspaper industry.

Maybe in their rush get ratings and spoil a rival show they might accidently broadcast some common sense - OK I know it's a long shot.

I remember as a teenager in the seventies when Uri Geller first hit the news in the UK- he was everywhere, TV and radio shows, newspapers, magazines.They couldn't get enough of him - all with adoring uncritical acclaim Not just as light entertainment - some of the more serious programs were featuring him and his "miraculous powers". - OK I'll admit I was taken in (what can I say, I was young - although I do remember questioning the value of spoonbending) that is, until James Randi came along and enlightenend us. These days Uri is reduced to being trotted out for third rate reality shows to give us a good snigger. And of course to support his best buddy Jacko - even then he has toned that down a bit, on TV recently he said that if Jacko is guilty then he is a poorer judge of character than he thought - strange thing for a "psychic" to admit, even him.

I only joined this forum recently - mostly just for fun. I think I had regarded James Randi as the debunker of harmless loonies, and hadn't really thought about the more serious side of his work. When he talks about weeping for the victims of these charlatans, I think it shows what really drives him.

I can only imagine how disheartening it must be to have your input on TV edited in that way. But his voice needs to be heard, let's do all we can to make sure it is.

[SherryA]

Billy said: Maybe it would be an idea to start emailing their rival TV companies suggesting they run a spoiler ( featuring James Randi of course). This sort of practise is common in the TV and Newspaper industry.


SherryA says: Righto, Billy! That's why I emailed CNN [http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?12] and suggested they run Randi for the full hour on Larry King Live. Oh how sweet that would be!

I'm pretty new around here, too. I appreciate your testimony. -- Sherry Austin.



www.sherryaustin.com

[Vikram]

I have another idea...

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has always struck me as being quite intelligent, skeptical and intolerant of wooism (whether religious or otherwise). Why not urge Jon Stewart to invite James Randi as a guest? If enough people send mails, perhaps they might do it. For all you know, Stewart himself might be a fan of Randi.

http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml

[SherryA]

Vikram, I'm a TV illiterate and so don't know much about the Jon Stewart show, but I think emailing him is a great idea based on what you said. I'm going to do it using the link you provided and I hope others will as well. I hope some of us will keep emailing Larry King Live, though. Wouldn't he have a larger audience? Again, I don't know for sure. --Sherry A.


Email the Jon Stewart show at:
http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml

Email Larry King at:
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?12]

[Vikram]

I suppose Larry King would have a larger audience. I did send CNN a mail after you posted that link.

I'm not that sure though about Larry King's committment to skepticism. He has repeatedly invited Sylvia Brown to his show and allowed her to spew her garbage.

But, as you said, if enough people send them mails, who knows? We should all send mails to these guys.

One suggestion - right now, there are three or four threads with the title 'John of God', so the visibility of this one might be a little low. How about starting a new thread with a catchy title like "Get Randi invited to TV shows" and posting these links there? That way, more people would notice it. I didn't do this myself because I don't want to take credit for this great idea of yours. :)

[SherryA]

I think it's a great idea, V, and it was YOURS! So you go for it and start a new thread with a title like you suggested. I have another idea that might help, too, but I'll get back to you on that. --SherryAustin.

[delphi_ote]

Originally posted by Vikram
I have another idea...

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has always struck me as being quite intelligent, skeptical and intolerant of wooism (whether religious or otherwise). Why not urge Jon Stewart to invite James Randi as a guest? If enough people send mails, perhaps they might do it. For all you know, Stewart himself might be a fan of Randi.

http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml

Excellent idea, Vikram. Jon Stewart would be very sympathetic and would give Randi a lot of much deserved exposure. E-mail him, won't you all?