Why does every paranormal story on the news have a smirking presenter?

I've noticed something over the years and I'm wondering if anyone else has clocked it. Whenever - and I mean whenever - a news outlet covers anything paranormal-adjacent, the presenter does this involuntary smirk. It's like they can't help themselves. Even if the story is completely serious, there's this little facial tic that says "we don't actually believe this rubbish."

Compare that to how they report literally anything else: politics, crime, economics. Straight face. Professional. But a story about a haunting in Yorkshire, or livestock going missing, and suddenly it's light entertainment.

Is this institutional bias, or is the whole media trained to respond this way? Can we trust any paranormal coverage at all, or is it designed to be dismissive from the ground up?

It's 100% institutional. News outlets get their credibility from being seen as rational and serious. Covering paranormal stuff straight-faced risks their reputation, so they undercut it with tone and body language. It's a defense mechanism.

Or - and hear me out - when something sounds genuinely daft, humans naturally react with skepticism? I don't smirk at financial reports, but I'd probably smirk if someone told me they'd been abducted by aliens too. That's not bias, that's just common sense.

You've hit on something real here. The tone of media coverage absolutely shapes public perception. If they treat paranormal stories as inherently laughable, the audience absorbs that message without even thinking about it. Very clever, very effective.

Just watched the BBC coverage of that Rendlesham Forest anniversary thing from a few years back - genuine respect, proper investigation vibe. They do exist, but they're rare. Most outlets can't resist the wink-wink-nudge-nudge approach.