•Ignore the claims made on screen. The movie "The Fourth Kind" is not based on fact.
But the publicity division of Universal Studios decided that the best way to get people to pay to see it is to spread false claims that the movie is a documentary with "archival footage" and "actual case studies" about alien abductions to back up every scene.
Two of the best accounts about this nonsense are a news article by Kyle Hopkins of the Anchorage Daily News in September and an editorial by Nancy McGuire of the Nome Nugget. Both were published weeks before the movie was released.
The movie was filmed in Bulgaria, which is about as close to Nome as this movie is to the truth.
Since September, the movie people have tried to erase evidence of a Web site that had references to a non-existent publication called the "Alaska Psychiatry Journal" and a biography of "Dr. Abigail Tyler," the alleged key character. The site was created in August, when the movie publicity began, along with one that contained made-up news stories supposedly from the Nome Nugget and the Daily News-Miner.
It may have been the attention generated by Hopkins' article on Sept. 1 that put an end to the Web sites that mentioned professional journals, researchers and newspaper articles that don't exist.
Some of the fake news articles can still be found on sites where they were copied. Two of the stories are an obituary that supposedly was run in the Daily News-Miner and a story about the death of "Dr. William Tyler."
Neither really appeared in the News-Miner. This is how they were presented on the Web:
Obituary: Dr. William Tyler
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
August 3, 2000
NOME – Dr. William (Will) Tyler of Nome passed away on Wednesday, August 2, 2000. Dr. Tyler’s cause of death is currently under investigation.
Dr. Tyler made his home in Nome with his wife Dr. Abigail Tyler and their two children. Dr. Tyler and his wife moved to Nome in late 1997 to conduct studies of sleep disorders at their Nome practice, Tyler’s Health and Care. He is survived by his wife, son and daughter. A memorial service and burial have yet to be announced pending the closure of the current cause-of-death investigation.
Nome Psychologist's Death an Apparent Suicide
September 29th, 2000
Staff Report
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
FAIRBANKS - The Office of the State Medical Examiner concluded on Tuesday that the death of Nome psychiatrist Dr. William Tyler was the result of an apparent suicide.
On September 5, Dr. Tyler's body was found in his home by his wife Dr. Abigail Tyler. At the time Nome police had no evidence of foul play, but Alaska state law requires the Medical Examiner to investigate the cause of death for all deaths caused by violence.
The case gained some notoriety in past weeks because of the disappearance of Dr. Tyler's five-year-old daughter on October 5th.
It's ridiculous that Universal thought it was OK to use the names of real publications in Alaska and fabricate news stories to market a movie. Even worse, Chapman University in California agreed to allow its name to be used on screen to give credence to the "archival footage" claim.
The university's reason for being part of the hoax? Everyone knows that movies are not true, a Chapman administrator wrote on a school blog.
As to why Chapman's logo was allowed to be used in the film, that's simple: Director Olatunde Osunsanmi went to film school there and seeing the school name will show students how successful Chapman grads are, according to the school blog.
Here is an excerpt of the editorial Nancy McGuire wrote in the Nome Nugget:
"They have fabricated fake stories for their phony archives and also included a few real stories to try to enhance the legitimacy of their web site.
Apparently Universal Studios (owned by NBC) must think that the general public is a bunch of morons and that the truth is so limiting.
Nomeites know that we are not being beamed up by aliens (and that is not why Sitnasuak wants to dispose of the big radio relay antennas on top of Anvil Mountain).
Aside from the fact that the Universal Studio hokey version of Nome depicts our town somewhere in Bulgaria, they felt that they needed to legitimize their fiction by attributing false stories to real reporters in legitimate Alaskan publications. It makes one wonder if they will try to apply this tactic to any other newspaper
in an attempt to fabricate news and legitimize their fiction.
This kind of blatant misuse of the Internet to discredit legitimate reporters and publications needs to stop. Universal Studios should issue a public apology to the people of Nome, The Nome Nugget and other Alaskan news organizations."
You might say this is about nothing more than marketing a dumb movie, borrowing techniques from the "Blair Witch Project." But it's also a good lesson in how digital tools can be used to spread misinformation with ease.
The problem is what this means for our future. The deceptive techniques used to hype this movie could be used with greater skill and more sleight-of-hand by companies, governments and individuals to lie about serious issues. The line between fact and fiction will be erased.
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This is very important issue to those do not care about whether it is only a movie or a true story
I also can easily say that the movie is not really to believe. I wonder these kinds of movies and their stories. I haven't done any research yet but I found this article and I have some questions;
First of thanks Dermot Cole to open some minds about the subject. But I didn't understand about fake websites and stories that producer made before the movie. Can you give details about that?What are non-existent publications? Also I wonder the two articles "Kyle Hopkins of the Anchorage Daily News in September and an editorial by Nancy McGuire of the Nome Nugget".I tried to find them but I'm not a good researcher about news articles. Can you share them with us?
SO I STARTED READING ON ALL THIS AMONG OTHERS ON THIS SITE TOO AND I MUST SAY I SEEM TO BE NONE THE WISER, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT NOME HAS TURNED INTO ANOTHER LOCH NESS OF WHICH NO ONE REALLY KNOWS WHAT THE TRUTH IS... HENCE I CAN SAY AS THE MOTTO OF THE X-FILES TO ALL YOU NON BELIEVERS " THE TRUTH IS OUTTHERE " THE GUY WHO CLAIMS HAVING SIGHTED A UFO IN ALASKA I TAKE MY HEAD OF TO YOU SIR THAT YOU PUT IT DOWN HERE. I FOR ONE BELIEVE YOU. I AM SURE THAT A LOT OF STUFF IN THE MOVIE IS HYPED IS FICTIONALISED CAUSE I DON'T THINK INDEED THAT FOOTAGE OF A POLICE CAMERA IN THE MID OF A FAMILYSLAUGHTER WILL BE PERMITTED TO BE USED IN A CINEMATOGRAPHIC PROJECT SUCH AS THIS, HOWEVER I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF THE BEGINNING OF THE FILM STATES IN FACT THE REALITY AND THAT THE FILMMAKER DOES REDO THE ORIGINAL FOOTAGE WITH ACTORS AFTER ALL DID HE NOT STATE THAT THE NAMES OF THE PERSONS HAVE BEEN ALTERED ? AND IF THE DR TYLER REALLY EXISTS SOMEWHERE WITH A DIFFERENT NAME WILL HE OR SHE NOT PREFER TO BE LEFT ALONE NOW ON ONE HAND, AND ON THE OTHER WOULD HE OR SHE NOT WANT TO TRY EVERYTHING TO HAVE HER OR HIS DAUGHTER RETURNED ? AS TO THE SUMERIAN PART OF THE STORY, I AM A BIT OF A LINGUIST, BUT NOT A SCHOLARED ONE, ENGLISH IS NOT MY NATIVE LANGUAGE BUT WHEN I SEE HOW MANY AMERICANS WRITE POOR ENGLISH PER DEFINITION THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT WELL EDUCATED... NO OFFENSE INTENDED, CAUSE I HOLD NO HIGH DEGREES MYSELF EITHER, BUT I DO REALISE THAT PEOPLE WITH UNIVERSITY DEGREES WILL SCARCELY PUT DOWN COMMENTS HERE THAT END WITH AMATEUR PIECE OF SHIT OR THINGS OF THAT SORT, AND ALSO THEY WILL NOT MAKE LANGUAGE MISTAKES, AND POSSIBLY NOT EVEN STOOP TO THIS LEVEL TO ENTER ANY COMMENTS AT ALL DOWN ON SITES AND BLOGS AS THESE... SO TO ALL YOU CRITICS OUT THERE THINK OF THIS ... THE INTERNET IS GREAT AND SO ARE THE MEDIA AS WELL... BUT IN THE WRONG HANDS THEY CAN BE ABUSED TO AN UNTHINKABLE EXTENT... I BELIEVE IN THE PARANORMAL HAVING HAD SOME PROOF OF IT MYSELF OF ITS EXISTENCE... IT WOULD BE RATHER AUDACIOUS TO THINK MAN IS ALL THERE IS AND NOTHING ELSE, WE MANKIND, CAN ABUSE OF OUR PLANET, EXTINCT ANIMAL SPECIES, GENETICALLY MANIPULATE WHAT NATURE CREATED, BUT WE ARE EQUALLY CAPABLE OF CREATING GREAT THINGS... WHY WOULD OUR SPECIES BE THE ONLY ONE ALIVE IN A VAST UNIVERSE? WHY WOULD THE ENCOUNTERS OF THE FOURTH KIND BE IMPOSSIBLE? THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO PEOPLE THOUGHT THE EARTH WAS FLAT AND SOME TIME LATER THEY PROSECUTED GALILEO BECAUSE HE DARED TO SAY THE SUN AND NOT THE EARTH WAS THE CENTRE OF OUR PLANETARY SYSTEM... WE NOW KNOW IT IS CORRECT BECAUSE WE HAVE PROVED IT
JULES VERNE, LONG BEFORE THESE INVENTIONS EXISTED WROTE ABOUT U-BOATS OR SUBMARINES THAT WOULD GO AT IMMENSE SPEEDS AND GREAT DEPTHS, HE WROTE ABOUT VISITING THE MOON AND SO MANY MORE THINGS, THAT ARE TODAY REALITY, WITH THE APPOLO PROJECT AND NUCLEAR SUBMARINES...
LEONARDO DA VINCI DESCRIBED PLANS FOR TANKS AND HUMAN FLIGHT... WE HAVE TANKS NOWADAYS AND ALL PEOPLE THAT WANT TO PAY AN AIRLINE TICKET DO FLY IF THEY WANT TO
SO WHY WOULD IT BE UNTHINKABLE THAT ALIENS DO EXIST
WHY WOULD IT BE UNTHINKABLE THAT HE PRETENDS TO BE A GOD... IF THE ASTRONAUTS OF ALIEN ORIGIN WOULD HAVE LANDED 4000 YEARS AGO THEY WOULD HAVE WITHOUT A DOUBT BEEN SEEN AS A GOD, SUPPOSE THEY CAME BACK LATER TO CHECK UP ON US AND ON THEIR EXPERIMENT... THEY MAY STILL USE THIS TERM TO MAKE THEMSELVES KNOWN TO US EVEN IF THEY DO USE SUMERIAN LANGUAGE...
PROBABLY THE SUMERIAN USED IS NOT CORRECT. IT WOULD NOT BE THE FIRST TIME THAT MOVIES ARE NOT ENTIRELY CORRECT. CAUSE IT TAKES A GREAT DEAL OF TIME AND KNOWLEDGE TO HAVE EVERYTHING CORRECT
SOMETIMES YOU MAY NOT DEPICT EVERYTHING
SOMETIMES YOU CANNOT DEPICT EVERYTHING
SOMETIMES YOU SHOULD NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING
SOMETIMES WHAT IS SAID IS TRUE
SOMETIMES THE SIMPELEST EXPLANATION IS THE RIGHT ONE (OCKHAMS RAZOR)
AS LONG AS YOU CANNOT PROVE THE ONE OR THE OTHER YOU CANNOT EXCLUDE IT.
ON THE INTERNET ANYONE CAN VENTILATE WHATEVER HE WANTS FOR WHATEVER REASON
MEDIA STARTED WITH THAT PRACTICE FROM THE VERY FIRST TIME PRINTING WAS INVENTED
FOR INSTANCE IN THE MIDDLEAGES ONE MONK WROTE A LARGE BOOK ON HOW TO PROSECUTE AND FIND PERSONS THAT PERFORMED WITCHCRAFT OR MAGIC
IN EFFECT THE PRACTICES THAT WERE EXPLAINED ON HOW TO ACT ARE STILL BEING USED IN DIFFERENT FIELDS BY POLICEOFFICERS
AS THEY PERSUED ANYONE THE WAY THEY WANTED IN THOSE MIDDLEAGES DAYS, STILL TODAY PEOPLE ARE BEING PURSUED TODAY AS WELL FOR WHATEVER "ANONYMOUS TIP" GIVEN
YOU HAVE TO HAVE GONE THROUGH IT TO UNDERSTAND AND KNOW IT
BUT OUR EVOLUTION IS NOT SO ENORMOUSLY ADVANCED... THE MORE THINGS CHANGE THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME
I CHALLENGE ANYONE WHO KNOWS SOMETHING HE SHOULD NOT PUBLICISE TO TRY AND DO IT WHEN HE OR SHE IS UP AGAINST AN ORGANISATION OR AN IDEA OF THE GENERAL SOCIETY OR COMMON IMPORTANCES SUCH AS POWER OR MONEY ...
KENNEDY WAS MURDERED
HIS BROTHER AS WELL
REVEREND KING AS WELL
AND SO MANY MORE
IT IS TIME THAT TRUTH WOULD COME OUT ON SO MANY THINGS
AND WHEN IT DOES WHOEVER IS RESPONSIBLE TO LEAK INFORMATION IS BEING PERSUED OR ALL OF A SUDDEN GETS AN ACCIDENT OR IS COINDICENTALLY A RAPIST OR SOMETHING OF SUCH SORTS....
IF OUR NATIONS SHOULD HAVE TO ADMIT THAT ALIEN LIFE DOES EXIST THEY WOULD LOSE A LOT BECAUSE IT WOULD CAUSE THE SOCIETY OF THIS GLOBE TO CHANGE COMPLETELY... THEY FEAR THIS BECAUSE THEY ARE NOW IN POWER, SO IT WILL BE A LONG TIME BEFORE A GOVERNMENT TODAY WILL ADMIT TO WHAT THEY ALLREADY KNOW... I FOR ONE DO WANT TO BELIEVE !
THANKS TO MANY ACCOUNTS
The problem is what this means for our future. The deceptive techniques used to hype this movie could be used with greater skill and more sleight-of-hand by companies, governments and individuals to lie about serious issues. The line between fact and fiction will be erased.
“Alaskaman100” may understand he is not Time’s Man of the Year, judging by the evidence in his outhouse, but his ability to discern what is an “obvious ruse” will be reduced as electronic tools grow more powerful.
Most of the phony news stories created for this movie dealt with plausible topics and contained nothing outlandish — an obituary, a suicide ruling and an interview with a doctor about sleep studies in Nome.
There were no clues that they were made up by a marketing company.
This incident contains ready hints about the future of propaganda.
This IS a true story.
For those who consider this comment too wordy, please refer to "I-ask-y's" previous post.
Universal Studios approached us on behalf of Olatunde and asked if we would give permission, and provided us with the script and film clips to review as we made our decision. We read the script and saw the clips where the university's name was to be used, and we immediately understood that this was a piece of enjoyably scary paranormal fiction. We felt it was a very entertaining movie and a good way to pay tribute to our talented alumnus Olatunde for his first big movie.
We find it amusing that some are calling "The Fourth Kind" a "hoax" and are trying to "debunk" the movie. Come on. It's not a hoax - it's a fictional movie, and fiction is always about the willing suspension of disbelief. Writers often weave real elements into fiction to help audiences suspend disbelief. For example, I just watched "The Inspector Lewis Mysteries," a British series about murder mysteries set at Oxford University. Obviously there were no such murders at Oxford, yet the series used the university's real name and even its locations. Was that a "hoax"? Harvard, Notre Dame, the University of Michigan and many other well-known U.S. universities routinely give permission for their real names to appear in fictional movies and TV shows.
"The Fourth Kind's" clever PR campaign -- like those for "The Blair Witch Project" and the more recent "Paranormal Activity" -- is set up to make people suspend disbelief and pretend what they're going to see is "real." But I seriously doubt that people actually believe ghosts and aliens are real because a bunch of movie marketers tell them so. Personally, I give audiences more credit than that.
So as long as it's entertaining, it's ok by you to publish blatantly false articles pretending to be written by real newspapers and organizations?
Wow... there's no way that could be abused...
The dumbing down of America is apparently complete.
Universal Studios is of course just trying to make money but on the backs of alaskans...maybe they should be paying royalties!