In case you somehow avoided being fit for a cortical shunt after the great Media Wars of 2004, I should start this post by letting you know that this week, the entire attention of our nation was focused on the fact that a kid wasn't in a hot air balloon. Yes, our stalwart fifth column diligently reported on an empty balloon, and the child that was not riding in it. ALL DAY.
First of all, when I was a kid you had to do a whole hell of a lot more than...well, nothing...to get the interest of mainstream news media. Hell, I've not been in a lot more interesting things than a weather balloon. I've not been in a UFO; you don't see Wolf Blitzer interviewing me about my non-trip to pseudo-space.
But the thing that irks me about the whole balloon boy saga is that it's yet another example of how journalists have failed this country. This kid monopolized our press for twenty-four hours. They reported on his parents' frantic attempt to rescue him, then the fact that he wasn't in the balloon, and now they're reporting on the fact that it may all have been a stunt to get press. They are REPORTING THAT THEY REPORTED ON SOMETHING.
If it's true that this family pulled a Simpsons to try and get press, why in the hell would your response as a journalist be to give them coverage about how they tricked you into giving them coverage?! It's like our media is two guys both wearing "I'm with stupid" shirts and hurling microphones at reality TV show producers.
Where were our scrappy, thoughtful journalists here? Right when the story hit the web, several people pointed out that there's no way a helium balloon of the size and volume reported on in the story could lift a fifty-pound child. I saw at least one "faaaaaake" on every message board I looked at.
You're telling me in twenty-four hours, not a SINGLE journalist figured that shit out? We spent millions of dollars covering a story we could have debunked with some basic math and a high school science textbook? How does no reporter in the entire country even think to try that approach, when the sea of morons that is the Internet figures it out almost immediately?
I offer no substantive solution; this is pure rant, and I admit that. But when you're reporting news twenty-four hours a day, don't you feel any compulsion to make at least a portion of that reporting bear on the world at large? Lately I've got to actually dig through news sites to find substantive articles about the economic recovery or status of the G-20 summit. We have more news than ever before, and somehow less.
I'm not trying to be political or controversial here. I'm just noting how difficult it's suddenly become to take almost any journalism seriously. We're like, China bad at this point. I think I'll go back to getting all my news from The Daily Show. At least when I laugh at that, it's not in that awkward, desperate, laugh to keep from choking on bile sort of way.
First of all, when I was a kid you had to do a whole hell of a lot more than...well, nothing...to get the interest of mainstream news media. Hell, I've not been in a lot more interesting things than a weather balloon. I've not been in a UFO; you don't see Wolf Blitzer interviewing me about my non-trip to pseudo-space.
But the thing that irks me about the whole balloon boy saga is that it's yet another example of how journalists have failed this country. This kid monopolized our press for twenty-four hours. They reported on his parents' frantic attempt to rescue him, then the fact that he wasn't in the balloon, and now they're reporting on the fact that it may all have been a stunt to get press. They are REPORTING THAT THEY REPORTED ON SOMETHING.
If it's true that this family pulled a Simpsons to try and get press, why in the hell would your response as a journalist be to give them coverage about how they tricked you into giving them coverage?! It's like our media is two guys both wearing "I'm with stupid" shirts and hurling microphones at reality TV show producers.
Where were our scrappy, thoughtful journalists here? Right when the story hit the web, several people pointed out that there's no way a helium balloon of the size and volume reported on in the story could lift a fifty-pound child. I saw at least one "faaaaaake" on every message board I looked at.
You're telling me in twenty-four hours, not a SINGLE journalist figured that shit out? We spent millions of dollars covering a story we could have debunked with some basic math and a high school science textbook? How does no reporter in the entire country even think to try that approach, when the sea of morons that is the Internet figures it out almost immediately?
I offer no substantive solution; this is pure rant, and I admit that. But when you're reporting news twenty-four hours a day, don't you feel any compulsion to make at least a portion of that reporting bear on the world at large? Lately I've got to actually dig through news sites to find substantive articles about the economic recovery or status of the G-20 summit. We have more news than ever before, and somehow less.
I'm not trying to be political or controversial here. I'm just noting how difficult it's suddenly become to take almost any journalism seriously. We're like, China bad at this point. I think I'll go back to getting all my news from The Daily Show. At least when I laugh at that, it's not in that awkward, desperate, laugh to keep from choking on bile sort of way.
actually, If you watch Countdown from last night Olbermann kinda took the media to task for this one, basically pointing out that while we all watched a 6 year old named Falcon NOT fly, people overlooked some aweseom reporting on Col. Powell stating that we should not allow a "Terror Industry" to take hold in the united states.
Needless to say, it was a token effort at best, but, still a token.
I'll take it. Thanks for the heads up. Although Olbermann can be accused of some showboating as well, to say the least. At least he's got the "impassioned, angry" part of journalism down pat.
Olbermann is essentially O'Reilly for MSNBC, let's be honest.
I don't know, I'm a fan of this story. For a short time, there was a chance a child was actually flying around in a balloon. But then he wasn't, so the media ended up just following an empty balloon. And he's a reality TV star. And he puked on live TV twice. This is far more awesome than Polanski and Letterman and everything else that the media has been covering 24/7.
We need the media to do bonehead stuff like this every once and while. It adds to the insanity.
Him puking twice on live TV was possibly the funniest thing I saw all day. The camera man actually adjusted his shot so as not to miss the full view of the puke landing in the bowl (or whatever the mother was holding)
The media needs to figure out when too much coverage is too much. I don't know why we watched a balloon float across the state for 4 hours without receiving any more real information; just restating what the media supposedly "knew". Some of the seemingly obvious questions in my head were "How the hell do you get in that thing?" and NOBODY answered that one! Where the fuck is the door, huh?
Then the balloon finally falls to the ground and I see like three people run over to it, but they don't really do anything; like they're just saving a piece of equipment instead of a child. Their reaction makes it rather obvious that there was no door, there was nowhere to be INSIDE of.
The media could have simply covered the balloon story with the information they had, then gone on to other stuff until the balloon finally landed - then report on that before going on to other things until the news that the boy was never in the balloon came about. Why this is a national media circus is beyond me; this is complete NON-news. I'm glad to know that if I want to be on the news, all I have to do is blow up a big balloon and call the news outlets saying somebody is attached to it.
i haven't had to read or watch the news since facebook started doing status updates. everyone loves to add their two cents to what's going on in the world, i piece it all together, and become as informed as anyone else but have way more time on my hands. this way, i have all day for drugs and online dating. it's a beautiful life.
The advent of 24-hour cable news networks was the worst possible thing to happen to American journalism. Cable news is now about ratings, as opposed to objectivity and fact. MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News are competing with late night talk shows, sitcoms, and So You Think You Can Dance. To remain viable, they have to put out what the American public wants to watch, not what they need to know. That's why the pundits and commentators have become so popular, and the actual reporting shows are reserved for lunch hours and other times when all they have to compete with are soaps.
Whenever I want to know the news, I turn to the written word, in print and online. Televised news can't be trusted anymore.