6-year-old boy is floating away

To be fair, the fact that this got covered so extensively and turned out to be a hoax became the story. I don't really have a problem with that, as dumb as it is.

 

I agree. The fact that law enforcement got involved pretty much makes you HAVE to cover it. Maybe one of the reporters should have asked the cops, "Hey, have you checked the attic?"

Other than that, I don't know how you ignore this story. Cops say a kid left the ground in a hot air balloon, they've found the balloon and are still looking for the kid. Have to cover it.

 

Who's he talking to?
Falcon Heene, you know him?
Yeah, he's getting me out of Summer School.
[pause]
Shit, I hope he doesn't crash and die. I can't handle summer school.

 

I'd still fall back on the "our job isn't to create interest, it's to reflect it" argument (so useful in deflecting "Of course no one cares about JV football, because it's not in the paper!" parents). Balloon boy is all anyone is talking about today. A huge percentage of people on this site today have been on this thread.

 

I didn't watch any of it. But it sounds like 90% of the coverage was footage of a cloudy sky with endless incorrect speculation. How much reporting was done from the actual house where the family lives?

 

Another cogent point.

 

Too bad this kid wasn't hiding in the closet so he could, you know, come out of the closet.

 

Oh, nightly news needed to lead with this because it was talked about all afternoon at everyone's jobs. You needed to know WTF happened to the kid.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/10/15/heene.wife.swap/index.html

Just read this CNN piece which, to me, added to the suspicion that the parents were in on it.

Amongst the odd facts revealed: apparently the husband of the family they swapped with for the reality show ran a "childproofing" business for a living, and a prevailing theme explored in the show was how the other wife couldn't believe how Heene's kids were allowed to run free whereas Heene's wife "sees safety gates everywhere and wonders how the family have fun. She asks the kids about their anxieties and confronts Jay about the climate of fear in his house." Also states that "What appears to be the three Heene boys are featured in YouTube rap music video that seems to spoof overprotective parents."


Seems awfully damn coincidental to me.

 

Anyone younger than 75 already knew what happened.

So yeah...the nightly news DID need to lead with this.

 

It was bizarre how long it seemed to take for news to arrive at or even near the house. Several hours into it, CNN mentioned that they didn't even know what neighborhood it was in.

 

Eventually someone will lead with the actual story ... who perpetrated the hoax, why and how they did it. (Already know the what, where, and when.)