It was that newest of new media...Twitter...that alerted me to the Great Balloon Story of 2009. I had been somewhere else online when I switched to Twitter and saw a series of tweets about a balloon and a boy and....I was off to CNNland, sucked up like a lot of other folks in the sheer drama of a runaway balloon and a missing six year old. It wasn't like the Challenger disaster, when I called folks to make sure they knew (I know I woke some of them up...it was a Saturday, no?). On Thursday I was debating with myself---out loud, of course-- about just where the little boy could be...wondering if he was in fact somehow inside that silver floating vehicle...on the ride of his life. Inside? With the helium? Why was there no basket? CNN assured us they would cut away when the balloon came down, out of respect for the boy's family.
Now, a couple of days and a lot of information later, that phrase sounds especially ironic. A news conference is expected today by the Sheriff's Office there in Colorado to announce charges against someone. Who? Mom and Dad? The rest of us for being suckered in? The Media for exploitation?
Bill Maher Friday night laughed about the media devoting all of that time to the runaway balloon, but I'll tell you right now. Given the facts presented at the time, had I been a producer at CNN or anywhere else with access to those helicopter shots, nothing would have interfered with the coverage. I would have done just as they did, stayed with it till the very end, even as some of the more, well, unconventional aspects of the family came of light. You don't pick your parents. A six year old boy is a six year old boy. And a balloon barrelling along toward whatever was in its way is a live drama you couldn't make up. Or, actually, you could. But we didn't know that then. What a story.
[UPDATE: Sunday 10/18: Howard Kurtz/Washington Post tweets: should it be against the law to conduct a hoax? No, but it is agianst the law to lie to police. Think about the amount of money that various agencies spent trying to "save" their son. And no, I do NOT think it is or should be against the law to lie to the media. If it were, all of Congress would be behind bars.]
[UPDATE - Monday 10/19: Colorado authorities now say some media could be charged as well...if they knew the balloon event was a hoax in advance. No names named so far. Now THAT would be an interesting trial to cover.]
[*The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]
Why? Why would you spend resources on what you, yourself, call "drama," under the label of "news?"
ReplyDeleteIs it newsworthy that people seek attention or that parents are irresponsible with their children or even that children get into trouble?
I generally respect your commentary and your presentment of fact. But I despise the hyping of dramatic moments on live television by the main stream infotainment machines. It is tawdry and sensational and certainly NOT news.
Remember, about 20 years ago, the drama of a small girl who fell down a well in Texas?
ReplyDeleteWe were all watching, and I admit I had a tear in my eye when she was brought up safely.
One of the most interesting aspects of this story is that despite the wall-to-wall coverage, no media outlet had an expert on to estimate the likelihood (based on size) of the balloon being able to lift the weight of a six-year old boy. The authorities have now pointed out that the scientific fact is that it was an impossibility. This event was a reminder of how fast social media can take a story to national awareness and in some ways drive the news media's priorities.
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