Meldrum and the Media: A Manufactured Mini-Mess
Posted by: Loren Coleman on November 4th, 2006
How could a nice guy like Jeff Meldrum (above) get caught in a mini-mess in the press? It happens.
An Editorial
I wasn’t going to say anything about the article on the work of Dr. Jeff Meldrum. Hey, you all know about it, as mentioned here at Cryptomundo and elsewhere. I was hoping that the tempest in the teapot would go away. But I decided to put to rest some thoughts I have had during the day on the mini-mess in my attempt to move on and get back to the real news.
It is the Saturday before a major midterm election in the USA. So what does a hare-brained writer spend his time trying to mess up? The answer is Jeff Meldrum’s life, apparently. I find the reporter’s actual interest in Sasquatch only marginal.
I now have seen that there are about 200 versions of this story spread by the Associated Press around the world. Luckily the majority of the mass media and apparently the general public are more interested in sex scandals, bad Republicans, Iraq, and the forthcoming election than they are about dwelling on this unfortunate piece of journalism.
From Jeff Meldrum’s point of view, of course, this article is not what he expected. He gave a calm book-related interview to the AP reporter, and then the news writer used it as an opportunity to make some silly remarks about Meldrum’s tenure being overthrown. That part of the article is untrue, as Meldrum’s tenure is not at risk. But, hey, we all have grown to understand that sensationalized reportage is used to sell newspapers and most reporters have shallow background knowledge of cryptozoology.
At some level, someday, I knew this was bound to happen to Meldrum. Considering Dr. Grover Krantz is dead, Jeff was due, especially now that his well-researched book is out, for an academic-style lashing in public. (The physics prof who is quoted, tried to do it to Meldrum during the recent conference in Idaho, but few listened.)
Sadly now, however, on a broader scale, the AP is spreading this poison. Amazingly, the various headlines, such as “Bigfoot studies render academic an outcast,” seem much worse than the facts. But will the impact be far-reaching? I doubt it.
Yesterday and today, the only topics the anchors on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News have discussed are the election, the Haggard sex scandal, the election, Iraq, and the election. Not one reporter, whom I have heard, has mentioned Bigfoot or Meldrum, and thankfully, the way this story is written, it is not getting the attention it might in a slower news cycle.
In the end, all that most of the general public will remember are only a few points, including (1) somewhere a professor is conducting serious research on Bigfoot, (2) a couple nasty people at his university said nasty things about him, (3) one person at his university (who happens to be in charge) said something supportive, (4) the nice professor has written a new book, and (5) the papers are still talking about Sasquatch.
"Readers" will have to read the whole article, but most will not, and those that are positively interested will be tempted to buy Meldrum’s book and skeptically look at what this reporter has to say.
Many of us who have lived and died in academia, however, understand that the environment can be fickle. If this press storm had happened at a time when people really would have been paying attention, Jeff could be in store for shaky times, in which he might have to rationalize his existence, just as Roy Mackal and Grover Krantz both had to do. Some of us without tenure, like myself, have been quietly laid off.
But this article about Meldrum, I predict, will be less than a three-day wonder. The election news has overwhelmed and will continue to occupy the attention of the media.
Nevertheless, during this short confused time in Idaho, a word of encouragment to Jeff, in the face of the usual media vortex of misplaced disinformation, to hang in there. My best wishes and thoughts of support go out to Jeff Meldrum and his family.
Loren Coleman
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Above, the cover to Jeff Meldrum’s book, a link to it is here: Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Loren you said it very well..and I also wish Jeff good luck and wish him well…The book is well done!
I’ll be looking for the book. It is unfortunate that the press is easily excitable and has little knowledge of or concern for the things they report. I hope this all blows over so he can get back to serious research.
On Jeff Meldrum, Sasquatch, Religion & Physics.
Please don’t get me wrong, my comment means no disrespect to any religion or any firm believer in religion at all. We know, however, that all it takes to believe in dogma is just that: unshakable faith. Therefore, from a strictly objective point of view, Prof. Meldrum has more reason to believe in Sasquatch than any faithful has to believe in God, or in the Big Bang theory, as Hoax Hater aptly put in his comment elsewhere.
It is utterly incomprehensible to me that such a piece of news (?) is published by someone who is obviously biased, and clearly NOT KNOWLEDGEABLE of what he is writing about; and also I don’t understand why it should deserve any attention or credit.
I wonder if it would be possible for us to show Prof. Meldrum our support and encouragement for his research. You know, just that he learns there are people out here that care.
This whole mess is very dissappointing as it is very intimidating for anyone who wants to pursue this line of research in the future. I sincerely hope that this fiasco has not deterred people who are are considering the study of sasquatch and my best wishes go out to Dr. Meldrum and his family.
To the press:
“A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.”
-Alexander Pope
Jeff is a real scientist, who is not afraid to look into the unknown. He is exactly what science is all about or should be, not the “I have a degree because daddy’s rich” type we see too many of. Jeff, those of us who love true science are with you. Keep up the good work.
Dear Loren,
I think the Meldrum brouhaha also has been blown out of proportion to exploit our political “culture wars”–if not to deliberately inflame them, then at least to capitalize on their sensational news value. It’s all part of the stereotyping of academia as a dogmatic closed-minded elitist “politically correct” ivory tower crawling with left-wing atheistic unpatriotic anti-American Marxist-leaning professors. The Meldrum brouhaha plays right into the hands of the Rush Limbaughs, Ann Coulters, and their admirers and groupies.
–Peace, T. Peter
Hey, on the “plus” side, there’s nothing like controversy to spur book sales!
So maybe Dr. Meldrum will get the last laugh after all.
(That doesn’t excuse the small-minded conservatives who want to revoke his tenure.)
This sorry affair is stain on that the scientific community has inflicted on itself a long time ago because they’ve chosen to ignore anomolous data and physical evidence as they do with 5% of aerial phenomena (UFOs) which remains unexplained. It’s especially political right now when development and growth are now pressing into many wilderness areas. Can you imagine the hue and cry from the largely conservative developers if you closed off large portions of potential Bigfoot habitat in California, Texas and Florida? It’s silly that other wildlife specialists aren’t joining Dr. Meldrum’s efforts to catalog what is obviously large omnivore. Omnivores and other large predators whose presence are usually a sign of a healthy and balanced ecosystem. Some modern scientist have become as dogmatic as any fundamentalist religious leaders!
Am I missing something? I read the article, and a few of the clones, and I didn’t see any particular negative slant. The cut line of the piece sez that Jeff has held legend to scrutiny and Bigfoot definitely exists. Great stuff in my view. The comments by colleagues are not all negative, he has the university’s support, he has an endowment, and the negative comments by the physics prof come off looking like the remarks of a petty man who is envious of the attention Jeff is getting. To the extent that the negative remarks make Jeff look unfairly persecuted, that will only
bolster his public perception unless everyone has forgotten who Galileo was and what happened to him.
The reporter also allows Jeff to refute hoaxers and to articulate the deep history of the phenomenon, thereby discrediting the view that Bigfoot is all a product of recent hoaxers.
Dr. Jeff got some great ink here folks; better publicity for his book than one could ever buy. Remember the Hollywood adage:
“There’s no such thing as bad publicity, (as long as they spell your name correctly.)”
Best to all,
tpowell
Bought it and love it.