To: Rochelle Stidham, Publisher, The Stephenville Empire-Tribune.

Sara Vanden Berge, Mangaing Editor

Dear Ms. Stidham and Ms. Vandenberge,



RE: EMPIRE TRIBUNE WRITER ANGELIA JOINER



I am writing to you with regard to the resignation/firing of Angelia Joiner from the Stephenville Empire-Tribune for her coverage of the UFO sightings at Stephenville. It appears that Ms Joiner’s termination stemmed from a request you made to her to cease further coverage of the issue. This is despite the harassment experienced by one of the witnesses, Ricky Sorrells, and the reversal in the US Air Force’s public statements concerning fighter jets in the area. Ms Joiner covered these issues with great integrity in her articles. Your request to Ms Joiner to cease further writing and investigation was very unreasonable. After all, this was a story that was gaining international media exposure through major news networks and popular talk shows such as Larry King Live. In the midst of these dramatic developments, witness intimidation and Air Force reversals, you requested that Ms Joiner simply drop all further investigations and concentrate instead on local news! The Stephenville Empire-Tribune is a small town paper, yet the international media was drawn to the Stephenville UFO story bringing in international attention, and visitors to investigate the sighting. Also, sales of the Empire-Tribune increased dramatically as a result of Ms Joiner’s reporting. Under normal circumstances, a publisher/editor would be thrilled and encourage employees to continue the good work. I think you either completely misjudged the gravity of the story that Ms Joiner was covering, or had been pressured by higher authorities to take action to silence Ms Joiner.

I've been working on the UFO/extraterrestrial issue since 2001 when I was a full time faculty member at American University's School of International Service, Washington DC. I have learned how easily the media can be pressured to drop sensitive stories concerning UFOs/extraterrestrial life, and fire employees who continue to pursue them. All it takes is a phone call from someone with high national security clearances to the head of the media company who relays instructions down the hierarchy. This is typically done secretly behind the scenes so one is left guessing as to what really happened. If this happened to the Empire-Tribune, then the public deserves to know the truth. Ms Joiner has performed an outstanding public service through her dedicated and objective coverage of the Stephenville UFO sighting. She has helped expose harassment of a key witness and the shifting arguments used by the US Air Force to explain away the sighting. Her brave and responsible reporting should not lead to the termination of her journalistic career, nor should the Empire-Tribune attempt to evade responsibility.