Balloon boy story shows ugliness of reporting news-in-progress, not TV news excess

Now that 6-year-old Falcon Heene has been found alive and cowering in a box in his family's attic, it's easy to bust on TV news channels for spending more than two hours focused on a runaway helium balloon they thought contained the little boy.

Comic Paula Poundstone had one of the best lines, delivered on Twitter moments ago: "The people on CNN seemed so bummed that they found that kid. What are they going to talk about? Wolf Blitzer really has a situation now."

And MSNBC's Ed Schultz looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel during a conversation with the Huffington Post's Arianna Huffington, defending the channel's continuous coverage even though Huffington was only criticizing the decision to keep talking about little Falcon after he was found.

"No one wants to see a little boy fall from 8,000 feet," Schultz thundered, drowning out Huffington's steady attempts to get a word in edgewise. "I think undoutbedly we did the right thing." Of course, if nobody wanted to see the kid fall, why cover it at all? (Worth noting: when Schultz said this, CNN and Fox News had both moved on to other stories).

But I get what he was driving at. As the balloon flew across the Colorado sky, police were telling journalists the boy's brother claimed Falcon had climbed into the craft before it was released. So even as some CNN anchors questioned whether a child was actually inside, all the cable news channels covered the event until the balloon touched down.

MSNBC, at least, had a delay sent up on its signal so they could cut away if it looked like Falcon was in mortal danger. Other outlets cut away when the balloon actually touched down.

And while some channels couldn't help speculating on the parenting skills of a family that allows the kids to curse openly, takes them on storm-chasing rides near tornadoes and has appeared on ABC's Wife Swap twice --I'm talking about you, CNN -- the events of Thursday played out pretty much the only way the could have.

What viewers saw was modern-day media's unfortunate habit of publishing news as they gather it -- a watch-the-sausage-get-made kind of process that almost guarantees excess.

"Overall, I thought the coverage was interesting and mostly good," said Al Tompkins, a former TV news director and head of broadcast journalism instruction at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which owns the St. Pete Times. "The facts as we knew them were compelling, they told us what they knew when they knew it ... even after the boy was found, I still wanted to see it."

And now that the boy has told CNN "We did it for the show," it's now time for media to spend the next two weeks trying to figure if we all got hoodwinked, or just pulled into the drama surrounding one of the most dysfunctional families on television. Sigh.

See the moment below:

Comments

[Wayne Deja]

When we look at that "rap"video of the "Fortified" Henne boys,can you imagine the ridicule these kids are going to be dealing with,and the problems they are going to have in high school...I think they might have been better off,in the long run,if,when that stupid video of them rapping on the railroad tracks was being made,if a train came along at the time it was being filmed.....

[Wayne Deja]

Here is what to do.....Look at the father,see the way he is,how he acts...Now look at the 3 little boys...In 30 years,they ,the 3 of them little boys,they are gonna be just like him....sad,huh?

[Sarah]

The Dad is a nut-job, case closed!

[Wayne Deja]

Isn't this the creepiest looking family you have EVER seen? The way they look,the way they act,everything about them is so CREEPY!!!!!

[Yougottabekidding]

Order of believeablility from top to bottom.
Used car salesmen.
Rev. Lyons.
Politicians
Perverts and thieves
Aba Daba Nut Job of Iran
Those who voted for the noble peace prize.
Media reporters

[Joe B.]

Not sure why.....but while watching this, I became extremely hungry for Jiffy-Pop Popcorn!!!

[Wayne Deja]

If I got to see those parents defending their actions...and lies,one more time,I am gonna be the one throwing up!!!!

[David]

I'm glad I did not watch any of this nonsense on TV -- just reading the news reports about it is sickening.

Hopefully, the proper authorities will grill the parents about this situaton for as many hours as the media coverage lasted. And in the end, present these two self-absorbed degenerates with a bill, outlining the actual costs associated with the "rescue mission" that was a direct result of their stupidity.

The Heene offspring is doomed to repeat the failures of their parents.

[Dave]

..and to think the coverage is still going on.
On a side note, why does the thing look so much like a UFO?
This guy is a fruitcake.

[Sam Kaufman]

The balloon boy story would not have gotten so much publicity if news reporters watched myth-busters

[Wayne Deja]

It is so obvious it was a hoax..from the parents reaction,to the 911 call,AND what the kid said.And now them trying to get a TV deal with TLC.What a joke!! No criminal charges are possible,in this day and age,what everyone in America should do is ignore this story from this moment on..and see,and treat these parents as the fools,and phoney's they are

[DoctorDoom]

I hear you Paul.

I wasn't trying to defend the practice, but looked at from the point of view I expressed, it is at least understandable, if lamentable.

[Paul]

Doom:
Much of what you said is true.

But there was a time, not all that long ago, when news coverage, broadcast and print, wasn't ENTIRELY driven by, you know, the right-this-minute viewership/readership.

There was a time, fast receding from public memory, when news coverage was driven by ideals about the responsibility to give readers not just what they want, but what they ought to know - about what calamities are happening in the world as well as about what public officials are doing to take care of the public trust.

So I guess I'm lamenting that that type of news coverage is vanishing as rapidly as news staffs full of first-rate reporters/writers (see post on Dave Scheiber) and great print publications.

And the balloon boy coverage is just the latest example of how/where news coverage has gone wrong, by news outlets all too happy to let themselves be manipulated by publicity seekers, in the name of good ratings.

Crazy talk, I know.

[Dick Weed]

24-hour news has spread to sensationalism by the print media. You don't have to look any further than the SPT: mugshots of people only ACCUSED of misdemeanors, slanting political stories to make the races sound more competitive than they actually are, articles in news pages based on unsubstantiated gossip.

The guy from Poynter said it himself:

"Overall, I thought the coverage was interesting and mostly good," said Al Tompkins, a former TV news director and head of broadcast journalism instruction at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which owns the St. Pete Times.

Under no stretch, was the coverage "mostly good" by historical journalistic standards.

[DoctorDoom]

Good points Paul,

But what is the goal of TV news networks? To make money.

How do you make money? Via ratings.

This was on Fox and MSNBC. Could CNN (or one of the others) afford to not cover it when people want to watch? And people did want to watch. I paraphrase Terrance Mann from Field of Dreams "people will watch, Paul. People will most difinitely watch."

Is that the nets' fault? If people know there is live coverage via helicopter, they are going to look for it. If you net is just doing updates every 30 minutes, your ratigs drop. It seems naive to say they should not waste time with this and instead focus on more important issues.

Yes, coverage of health care sure packs in the ratings, as does more coverage of Afgahnistan. That is old news, no one cares to listen to it over and over again. People have short attention spans.

This was ratings gold.

I can't wait for Nancy Grace to grill the parents ;-)

[Paul]

But don't you think we should have a realistic expectation that the news nets don't go overboard with every sensationalistic story?

Or is that asking too much?

By overboard, I mean HOURS of nonstop coverage. As potentially tragic as it was, still, we're talking about one little kid.

Meanwhile, urban/inner-city crime across the U.S. results in murders every day that aren't covered by the nets, not to mention the regular terrorist attacks and other violent actions resulting in multiple deaths around the world, much of which is studiously avoided by the news nets.

I think the news nets have the responsibility to use a little sound judgment, NOT just go haywire over the incidents most likely to pull in huge viewership numbers, and proceed cautiously with overkill coverage.

I know that's not a popular position to take.

[Eric Deggans]

Paul, what you're saying makes perfect sense if there was a strong indication the kid wasn't in the balloon.

But the fact was, police were saying the family thought the kid was inside the aircraft. The cops weren't indicating they had doubts about the story.

So TV networks who haven't talked directly to the family are supposed to make a judgement the police haven't made?

I just don't think that's a realistic expectation. And i don't think it makes sense to judge these coverage incidents on the results of the emergency; you have to look at what was known when the decisions were made and ask if people acted sensibly.

Of course, people had suspicions. But there wasn't really any evidence to back those suspicions until the balloon was confirmed empty.

[Paul]

How is it not TV news excess?

Yes, we can blame cable news outlets for not doing a better job of sniffing out a hoax. And we should.

Rather than spending hours focusing on the flying balloon, and enlisting "experts" to analyze every minute detail of the saga, a cable news network acting responsibly could have and should have
a)reported the story of the loose balloon and the allegedly missing kid (two minutes),
b)done occasional updates (one minute every half hour?)
and c)then done a quick final update (two minutes) when it was revealed that the kid was found safe.

And then, the nets could have moved on.

Instead, they covered it as if it were a life-or-death hostage crisis.

The news nets did what news nets will do, giving nonstop coverage to a big nothing, so that viewers would tune in for hours.

But that doesn't mean they're being "responsible" when it comes to covering the news. Just that they'd do anything for ratings.

Meanwhile, they let all the continuing major stories of the day - health care, recession/depression, terrorism in Afghanistan and the Middle East, etc. - fade away while the balloon boy saga unfolded.

[Kenneth]

They've got to stop with these so called "experts". As a pilot myself, it drives me nuts when they bring people on to speculate with little information. At one point CNN announced that they had a seasoned "balloon pilot" on the line. He comes on to say "oh I'm not a pilot - just an aviation enthusiast". Fan-f'n-tastic!

[Eric Deggans]

Kids weren't in school because school was out in their community for some reason Thursday.

schools are out here in Pinellas today for a teacher in service work, so it's not unheard of....

[Lynnwbh]

Why weren't those boys in school yesterday? It's my inclination that they've been exposed to some much "show" making, they were making their own "show". Early in the story it was reported that had 1 or more video cameras up on the roof. Gotta' wonder about parental judgement in both cases.

[Mr.Bill]

The whole family is GUILTY
Pay up

[Lyle]

Dave, I think it all started with the Iran-Contra hearings in 1987. Oliver North was compelling tv and a wonderful figure to watch, but it demonstrated that we (Americans) will watch endless coverage of a news event which doesn't really warrant endless coverage.

But you're right if I'm wrong. If it wasn't Iran-Contra, OJ in the Bronco was an event made for mindless tv.

[Dave]

Who can not recall the endless coverage of the OH SO SLOW and BORING, O.J. chase? I think that's when it all started.
Slow news day + instant feeds+talking heads= Soap Opera news.

[Lyle]

This is what you get with 24-hour cable news channels. Remember 2001? If you were to believe what you saw, you'd think every shark in the ocean ate Chandra Levy. Then on 9/11/01, all sharks were behaving and Chandra Levy got moved off the stove and into the freezer.

TV journalists are nothing but sensationalistic hacks who have a very, very warped view of the world. They honestly think everyone sees every story as importantly as they see it. That simply isn't the case.

And now with newspapers having to get into the online business, you get headlines like this yesterday from the St. Pete Times: "Cooler Air On The Way, Bay Area Residents Are Giddy". Giddy? Really? Who did you talk to to get that line? Two people who were out jogging and sweating.

I think most of what the media think is important is the result of very short thinking and small sample size.

I was never fooled by this story and now we have the kid on tv this morning vomiting his brains out. The whole thing is sickening. Blame the family, but turn off the media. It's the same media who think showing a burning body on the Skyway bridge is perfectly acceptable. Apparently the ethics of journalism have been changed in the last few years. That's the real shame!

[Carl Cronan]

We all got played for suckers yesterday. Well, most of us. I was busy with other things.

[Jeff Bender]

I think Larry King really is a helium balloon . They blow him up at 9 eastern 8 central 5 days a week . Next caller ......

[Jeff Bender]

Fly Falcon Fly - right into a future of bad dreams and schitzophrania - delusions of grandeur - alchohol & drug addiction - hatred for your freaky father and robot mother - self mutilation and of course thinking you really can fly like dad said - and well you know the rest . I hate the American Family of 2009 .

[Bulletinizer]

You're watching Ed Schultz and quoting Paula Poundstone? Hey Forrest, stupid is as stupid does.

[eb]

larry king, check: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI6UONWCq7A

[Wayne Deja]

OH BOY!! Only in America.....Here come the book deals,reality shows,movie deals,TV specials,magazine deals,Larry King appearance,etc.,etc.,etc.