AudioBlog: The National Enquirer UFO Blue Ribbon Panel

Many readers may not be aware that, at one point in time,
the National Enquirer was associated with serious UFO
research in spite of its reputation as a sensationalistic
supermarket tabloid. In 1972, the Enquirer put together
what they called “The National Enquirer Blue Ribbon UFO Panel,”
which was made up of five UFO researchers, all of whom held PhDs.
The Enquirer was offering a $50,000 reward for proof, by
the end of the year, that UFOs came from space and were not a
natural phenomenon. The panel was tasked with evaluating UFO cases
to determine if any of them provided such proof. The panel members
included four consultants for the Aerial Phenomena Research
Organization, and Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a scientific consultant for
the Air Force’s UFO investigation for most of its existence. All of
them had good reputations within the UFO community, and the reader
may wonder why they would put those at risk by being associated
with the Enquirer in such an endeavor. It’s likely that
the prospect of getting some of their research funded by
the Enquirer may have helped them to put aside any
aversions, and the assignment in 1975 of Bob Pratt to
the Enquirer UFO desk, who became respected as an
investigator in his own right, may have encouraged them to continue
their association. Read more