Bigfooters: Media Targets

You’re a hard-working Bigfoot investigator and get a call from a "newspaper" in Florida, something with a forgettable and simple name. They want to do a story about you and a possible discovery you were looking into, regarding a unique piece of evidence.

You are open, trusting, and sharing. But today, you receive a copy of the issue of the publication, and are surprised, nay shocked, to find out the article is in…the Sun, one of the sister tabloids of the National Enquirer of America Media, Inc.

That’s what happened to Bart Nunnelly, who first shared with Cryptomundo his story about the "Bigfoot tooth."

But it gets worse. Yes, there is a lot of free sharing on the internet and between researchers. When it comes to letting books, television companies, and big publications, which are going to make the big bucks, use your stuff, however, a minimal fee is standard. It is generally agreed some fiscal agreements need to be made for the use of images and other materials. How much money did Bart make from the Sun for his Bigfoot tooth picture? Nothing. How much did he ask for, for the use of his photograph? Well, sadly, nothing.

I had a long discussion with Bart today. He did things out of a trusting nature, and had never done much public media work during his 20 years of Bigfoot research. It happens. It’s a lesson learned.

But it got me to remember to suggest to Craig that at his next Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy annual symposium (and to organizers of similar forthcoming conferences), I and others should give workshops called "Working With the Media."

Cryptozoologists and Bigfoot hunters can have a friendly and mutually respectful relationship with the media, but certainly several people, especially Bigfooters, are taken advantage of every year. It does not have to be that way. It is time to actively share within our community what is known and how to discuss what our requirements should be, as well as listening and being responsive to a publication’s or production company’s needs.

We approach cryptozoology as a science, and yet, we must realistically understand that the media is using and targeting researchers as entertainment, during most of their reporting. There is no reason someone like Bart couldn’t do things to protect himself, as well as getting a few of his research expenses covered by a multimillion dollar organization that is going to use his photograph.

Loren Coleman 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.

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