Tom Barry, a British filmmaker working for Zig-Zag Productions in London, called me in May, 2009, asking about the possibility of my participation in a new crop circle film he had been assigned to produce for National Geographic TV. Mr. Barry was apparently unaware that National Geographic TV has aired several crop circle pieces in the past and that I—representing the BLT Research Team--had been involved in one that aired in 2005. He seemed uninformed regarding the circle phenomenon generally, and apparently did not know that I had been very surprised by the overtly biased treatment accorded the scientific work (previously published in 3 peer-reviewed scientific papers authored by BLT members) in the 2005 National Geographic TV crop circle show ("http://www.bltresearch.com/published/natgeo_comments.php").
I told Mr. Barry that I felt that both the phenomenon and our work had been inordinately misrepresented and, therefore, asked him if he could provide me with assurance that his proposed effort would be a fair and unbiased presentation? Specifically, I asked him if he could provide me with a "final cut" of his film prior to its being aired—along with the written assurance that I would have the right to withdraw my interview and any graphic materials provided by me or BLT if I felt the final product was either willfully skewed or disrespectful of the BLT work or, in particular, the scientists involved.
I did not hear from Mr. Barry for several weeks, during which time I did hear from multiple other crop circle enthusiasts, who expressed their concerns regarding the content of this new show. I did finally receive an email from Mr. Barry telling me that he no longer plans to shoot in the U.S. and will film only in the UK. He also suggested he would pay all of my expenses to come to the UK—but did not respond to my questions about fair representation. Given Nat.Geo's past "coverage" of the circle phenomenon, this omission seems to me to be a red flag.
Then on June 24th Mr. Barry called to tell me that the executives at Nat. Geo. had refused to provide a written statement that the new film would provide an unbiased approach to the phenomenon or the BLT work, but that he was moving ahead anyway. Because of Nat. Geo's previous superficial (and in my opinion flippant) presentations—and because I have no way of knowing that this new production will be either respectful or accurate—I decided not to participate.
If any readers are concerned (as I am) that this new project may again present a biased portrayal of the phenomenon you may want to express your concerns (before the film is presented publicly) to the Executive Producer at Zig-Zag Productions or to Mr. Sydney Suissa, the Executive VP in charge of "Conten" at Nat. Geo. Channels Intn'l, or to other responsible individuals at National Geographic TV:
Mr. Sydney Suissa (Executive VP, Content)
National Geographic Channels International
1145 17th Street,
NW
Washington, D.C. 20036-4701
USA
phone: 202 857-7000
em: ssuissa@ngs.org
Brent Baker (Executive Producer, 2009 Zig-Zag Prod. show)
13-14 Great Sutton Street
Clerkenwell
London, EC1V 0BX
England
em: Brent@zigzag.uk.com
Or:
Cherry Johal Yates (Sen. Director, Marketing & Communications-USA)
em: cyates@ngs.org
Emma Murphy (Publicity Manager, Nat.Geo.Channel - UK & Europe)
em: emma.murphy@bykyb.com
Or:
Carlyn Staudt (VP, Acquisitions)
cstaudt@ngs.org
Laura Annalora (Mgr, Develop. & Prod.)
lannalora@ngs.org
Maggie Rhodes
mrhodes@ngs.org
Juliet Blake (Senior VP, Production)
jblake@ngs.org
Michael Cascio (Senior VP, Production)
mcascio@ngs.org
Kathleen Cromley (Exectutive Producer)
kcromley@ngs.org
Whit Higgins (Dir., Develop. & C-Prod.)
whiggins@ngs.org
Cindy Linnell (Dir., Production Mgm't)
clinnell@ngs.org
Bridget Whalen
bwhalen@ngs.org
Postal address for all of the above :
National Geographic Channels International
1145 17th Street,
N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-4701
USA
phone: 202 857-7000
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