BACKGROUND

The prestigious Portuguese daily O PÚBLICO forecasted a Meteorite Storm for August 11, 1993. This was nothing more than a worldwide hoax which even the scientific community fell prey to.

Before we address the question - Why did they really do it? - let us look at the facts.

[At the end of this brief text the reader will find the translated article published by O PÚBLICO confessing all... after another respected Portuguese publication investigated the "forecast" and was about to publicly blow the whistle on O PÚBLICO.]


DETAILS

In their forced-by-circumstances confession O PÚBLICO claimed that their intent was to sell newspapers. They also admitted to showing only an incremental sale of 107 issues yielding a grand total incremental profit of $1.48 USD (260 escudos).

Let us scrutinize their alleged motive...

The O PUBLICO average daily press run for a recent month was 75,560 copies. Assuming a similar number for July/August and achieving a 50% increase in circulation for one whole week as the result of the interest generated by the hoax and working through the numbers, O PUBLICO stood to earn an estimated incremental gross profit of approximately $3,658 USD minus the expenses incurred in planning and executing a hoax of such magnitude. Telephone bills alone must have been astronomical! It is patently obvious that this alleged marketing project was financially doomed, as such, from its conception.

So the question is: Why did they really do it?

A Global Purpose

One result that we can readily ascertain is that they have proven, without a doubt, that when the media set its mind to it, the whole world can be led astray through the Social Communication System, including the specialists on the subject chosen. In this particular case it was the Space community - NASA included.

A Local (to Portugal) Purpose

The only miracle ever well documented by the press was the Miracle of the Sun in Fátima on October 13, 1917. No other obvious-to-the-mortal-eye supernatural event has had such an impact in the Faith of believers.

However...


...The faithful could be shown conclusively that there really was...


Think about it...

Keep in mind that the neutralization of Fátima and its Messages is, at this point, a cornerstone of the plans of the enemies of God. It is a key component of the mechanism to neutralize the rest of the Apparitions/Communications.

This is why H.H. John Paul II was coherced to endorse, through his presence, the half-truth the Vatican issued as the Third Part of the Secret of Fátima.

If you cannot believe now that indeed the revealed secret was a half truth, read the latest details and you will.


CONCLUSION

For additional examples of the same manipulatory techniques, visit other parts of this series (see the index at the end of this document), particularly Part 3 and Part 4.



APPENDIX



Published In: "O PÚBLICO", Portugal, Saturday, August 14, 1993


The Public Confession

"O PÚBLICO" confesses. We had hoped that we could keep the situation in total secrecy but the (newspaper) "INDEPENDENTE", with its characteristic intuitive sense, in a most brilliant example of what Investigative Journalism should be, uncovered the scam. Therefore, we have no other alternative but to confess.

Here it goes: The meteorite/falling star shower, announced by O PÚBLICO for the night of Wednesday (August 11th), was no more than a gigantic intoxication (manipulation / calculated misinformation) of public opinion staged by our newspaper.

Months of undercover work, that would have been the envy of Mata-Hari, were necessary, but, in the end, o PÚBLICO finally convinced the International Astronomical Union, NASA and all the observatories around the world with their astronomers, including Miguel Esteves Cardoso, that there was a possibility of a falling star storm of a magnitude never before witnessed in this century.

The success attained by the achievement of the scam was only possible thanks to the efforts and imagination of our specialists in counter-information who, taking advantage of the fact that the Earth was indeed going to cross the orbit of the Swift-Tuttle eight months after (its recent visit), convinced the world that the falling stars this year could be in the thousands.

The idea was ridiculous, yet it worked. O PÚBLICO succeeded in dragging millions of people, from Tokyo to New York and from Lisbon to Moscow, to the fields and the coast lines. However, the lie could not be maintained, and the furious popular manifestations in Canada, the condemnation of various western governments and the demonstrations, the day before yesterday, in Stockholm, where they publicly burned some copies of o PÚBLICO and a photograph of Vicente Jorge Silva (Director of o PÚBLICO), illustrated to us how wrong our steps had been.

The objective of this stratagem, we humbly confessed, was to sell newspapers. An effort crowned by a sale that exceeded in only 107 issues the sales figure achieved on the same day last year.

In an act of penitence, therefore, o PÚBLICO intends to give to a charity of the choice of MEC the profits achieved by the incremental sale. Therefore, a check for the amount of 260 escudos (approx. $1.48 USD), may be picked up by MEC from our offices during normal working hours.










Originally Issued on December 18, 1993 • Related Links have been added later on to the original document as the information became available.