A dictator’s possible death and the pentagon’s declassification of videos capturing “unidentified aerial phenomena” have slightly shifted news coverage.

So far 2020 news coverage has overwhelming been focused on one thing; the Covid-19 outbreak. If you go to google and look up the term “Covid-19” and click on the news tab over 690 million results show up from this year alone.

However, two new topics have slightly distracted the media coverage at large away from the ongoing pandemic.

North Korean Dictator Rumors

Over the past few weeks, many varying reports have come out about the health of North Korean Dictator, Kim Jong-un. The term “Kim Jong Un” was even the most googled term on April 25 with over 10 million searches according to google trends.

Some outlets such as TMZ and Express (A United Kingdom based newspaper) have reported that Kim has died. While other news outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post have reported the opposite.

The rumors started on April 12 when an article posted by the Daily NK reported that Kim had recently undergone heart surgery. Then later that week rumors intensified when Kim was absent from an important North Korean event celebrating his grandfather on April 15.

In a poll of 79 NAHS students 65 said they had heard about the rumors of Kim’s health.

However, all these rumors were ended on May 2 when the North Korean news agency KCNA released photos of Kim at a public ceremony on May 1. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency was the first to report the sightings.

Declassified Pentagon videos

On April 27, the Pentagon declassified three previously leaked videos showing “unidentified aerial phenomena” and many news outlets have picked up the story.

The term “UFO” was even the most googled term on April 27 (the same day the videos were declassified) with over 1 million searches according to google trends.

The three different videos were captured through infrared cameras and show what appears to be unidentified flying objects moving rapidly.

In two of the three videos service members can be heard reacting to the objects. One even speculates that it might be a drone.

In a poll of 70 NAHS students 32 had heard about the newly released videos.

All three videos had been separately leaked between December 2017 and March 2018 by To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences according to CNN.

The reason these videos were declassified was clarified by Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough.

In a statement, Gough said the videos were released, “in order to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real, or whether or not there is more to the videos,”