Complex sentence: Period journalists didn't seem to take airship reports very seriously as after the major 1896-1897 flap concluded the subject was not given further investigation, but allowed to very quickly drop off the cultural radar.
Split into simpler sentences: Period journalists didn't seem to take airship reports very seriously as after the major 1896-1897 flap concluded the subject was not given further investigation. Instead, it was allowed to very quickly drop off the cultural radar.