What can we learn from the Balloon Boy saga?
For a couple of hours last week, the world was transfixed on a saucer-shaped helium balloon drifting through the skies above Colorado. When the balloon finally landed, two hours later, and six year-old Falcon Heene wasn’t inside it, the drama took another strange twist. Where was he? Had he fallen out?
The world waited and watched with breathless anticipation. When Falcon was eventually discovered to be hiding in an attic in the family’s garage, there was a collective sigh of relief, especially from CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, who expressed a common sentiment when he said something to the effect, “We’re all just glad that the little boy is alive and well.”
Then the shocking revelation, while being interviewed by Blitzer, that the balloon incident may have been a hoax. Falcon had spilled the beans on live TV (“We did it for the show”). At first, the allegations were strongly denied by Heene’s father, Richard, but over the weekend a story emerged that Richard, along with some accomplices, may have co-opted the media (and law enforcement officials) in an effort to launch a reality TV series.
This story has gotten increasingly complex and bizarre with each passing day. After each interview that the family gave, and as people close to the family started talking to the media, suspicions about an alleged “hoax” grew. At the time of this writing, criminal charges are pending against Heene and his wife, and the feds could lay charges of their own.
This Balloon saga appears to be a desperate attempt at notoriety, regardless of the cost to reputation or pocketbook. After all, we live in a regenerative age, where people and companies are constantly re-inventing themselves. If your old ideas and image aren’t working, then it’s time to re-brand them.
If Richard Heene and his family play their cards right, they’ll be laughing all the way to the bank. So what if they have to pay a fine? So what if their image as parents takes a hit. The truth here is that there is probably a market somewhere for their story, in a book or film deal, and so the saga will go on and on.
The mainstream media played a huge role in propelling this story to viral status. It thrives on this type of drama and spectacle. In the 24/7 news culture of today, there is far more airspace to fill than available news on any given day, and the helium balloon story had all right ingredients for compelling narrative, a narrative that boosted TV ratings and readership numbers across the board.
Perhaps if the mainstream media resisted blanket coverage for every crackpot that comes out of the woodwork, then maybe future Jon and Kate wannabes will think twice about pulling schoolyard pranks to achieve their aims.
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Today’s Media, in general, is just too over-zealous. The Balloon Boy saga is pure justification of this comment. Basically, every news organization on the continent covered this story. I hope the parents do get charged to dissuade other publicity-seekers from pulling similar stunts. It was a hoax and the media (and emergency forces) were completely duped. I think the mud is on the face of the media more than on the family that perpetrated this hoax. And if they get a made-for-TV movie, I for one, will not be watching it. This story gets more bizarre with every passing day!