The runaway balloon that didn’t have a six-year-old inside was one of those made for television stories, all right. TV newsrooms didn’t know just how manufactured the story apparently was until it was all over. Were they snookered? Sure, along with everyone else.
It’s easy to say now that the cable news networks went overboard with wall-to-wall coverage of the balloon’s flight. But the possibility that a child was inside made the story riveting. No wonder a huge audience tuned in. Even the Weather Channel got into the act, with lots of chatter about prevailing winds. But hey, it wouldn’t be the first time that a human interest story of little national significance ate up airtime on cable, right?
It’s probably fair to say the cable coverage overall wasn’t skeptical enough. Yes, anchors and reporters used words like “may” and “could” on the air when talking about the boy being inside the balloon. But speculation was rampant. On CNN, Wolf Blitzer thought he spotted a basket or a box on the ground that could have detached from the balloon, reinforcing the belief that the boy was inside.
Before the networks got in the game, balloon boy was a local story and KUSA-TV in Denver was on top of it. Were they too eager to jump on what now seems to have been a hoax? Not at all, says news director Patti Dennis, who took the unusual step of going on her station’s 4 p.m. newscast to explain.
The station also has posted a step-by-step account of what they heard and what they did to confirm the story before deciding to launch their news chopper. It cost the station plenty to follow the balloon, but managers appear to have no regrets. And they should get credit for being willing to explain their decision-making to the public, something many stations never do.
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[…] TV’s role in balloon boy story (0) […]
This is the topic I was talking to my ethics class this afternoon, 10/20. In this media age, our class discussion comes to this question: why so many journalists refused to be skeptical? Anyone who has common sense should know it was quite skeptical for such a small balloon to hold a 50- or 60-pound boy. With enough cases and lessons journalists being used, it is time for them to learn to be as skeptical as anyone else and unlearn media hyping skills.