Went on local radio to talk about my experience and immediately regretted it

Had a meeting with a producer from BBC Radio Suffolk about my encounter on the Mendips in 2019. Thought it might be nice to get the story out there, raise awareness, maybe get other witnesses coming forward, yeah? Massive mistake.

The interview was scheduled for 45 minutes. They aired about ninety seconds. They edited it to make me sound uncertain about what I saw. Left out the bit about the three independent witnesses. And the presenter - lovely bloke off-air - did the whole "mysterious lights in the sky, probably just a plane" thing.

Honestly feel a bit violated. I gave them the full story in good faith and they weaponised bits of it to make it sound less credible. Anyone else had this experience with local media? How do you handle it?

That's rough, mate. Radio and telly need to sensationalise or dismiss - anything in between won't work for their format. Your best bet is writing it down here where the audience actually wants truth, not entertainment. Sorry the beeb mucked you about.

This is exactly why I've never gone public. The moment you let mainstream media have your story, you lose control of it. They'll twist it however serves their narrative. Stick to paranormal communities and specialist researchers - we actually listen.

They edited it to make me sound uncertain about what I saw.

Sorry you had that experience. The good news is that people on forums like this will take your full account seriously. The bad news is that's probably only a few thousand people rather than the radio's reach. It's a trade-off between reach and integrity.