* Original: FROM.....David Bloomberg   (1:124/6119)

The following is a preview of the "REALLity Check" to be published
in the next issue of The REALL News, dealing specifically with the
recently revealed lack of investigation on the part of SUN Pictures
and CBS with regard to the show they did on Noah's Ark in February:
===================================================================

     This may come as a shock to many of our you, but it
looks like some of the information in Sun Pictures' The
Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark, aired on CBS in February
and discussed in this very space, was untrue.  Yes, yes, I
know that it's difficult to believe that such a wonderful
example of Creationist propaganda might not be fact-filled,
but that does indeed appear to be the case.

     According to a July 5 Time magazine article, "Sun
filled the two hours with a mixture of fact, conjecture,
fantasy and arrant nonsense, while offering no clues as to
which was which."  Time continued, in describing the pro-Ark
"experts" which were interviewed as "many of them
creationists who take the Bible's revelations literally and
reject much of modern science."

     This story was brought to light by a fellow skeptic,
out in Southern California, Gerald Larue.  After being set
up as a straw man by Sun for an earlier show (much the same
way Farrell Till was for Ancient Secrets of the Bible, Part
II, as I mentioned here before), Larue decided to expose the
"shoddy" research of Sun International.  Thus, he coached
George Jammal, and Jammal went to Sun with a piece of wood
and an incredible story.  He claimed to have found the wood
on Mt. Ararat, in a hole in the ice.  In fact, the wood is a
piece of "contemporary pine Jammal soaked in juices and
baked in the oven of his Long Beach, California, home."  He
also related the story about his companion who allegedly had
pictures of the Ark, but who had fallen and died in an
avalanche.  That story was, of course, just as much a hoax.

     Larue said, "Carbon-14 testing would have revealed that
the wood was a modern forgery."  In an AP wire story
reported by the Chicago Tribune (6/29/93), Larue added,
"They didn't test the wood.  They didn't even check on
Jammal.  They just bought into the story."  The film's chief
researcher and field producer, Dave Balsiger, said, "We
couldn't test the wood in time for our deadline, but we were
very thorough in checking [Jammal] out."  Obviously, not
thorough enough.

     According to the Committee for the Scientific
Examination of Religion, quoted in the Tribune article, CBS
"acted irresponsibly in airing a so-called documentary that
was actually a propaganda vehicle for 'creationists' opposed
to the theory of evolution."  And what did CBS have to say
about this?  They are attempting to defend themselves by
claiming it was "an entertainment special, not a
documentary."  Sure it was.  That's why the host, Darren
McGavin, called it "an archaeological quest."

     Looks to me like CBS and Sun were caught trying to pull
a fast one on their viewers.  But instead, somebody pulled a
fast one on them.

     The only thing that disappoints me about the handling
of the show by the news media is that, if there had not been
a hoax [other than the Creationists' hoax] involved, I very
much doubt the rest of the nonsense contained in the show would
have been mentioned anywhere in the "regular" news media.