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...would be too simple to write off last week’s tumultuous balloon incident as a twisted misdirection of the public by a few Colorado kooks looking for their fifteen minutes. The hoax’s exposure brings with it another one of much greater significance. Obsessive television coverage of “Balloon Boy” is indicative of the media’s own sordid state. This episode brings to light a news environment in which sensationalism trumps responsible reporting and where the quick sell far outweighs any shade of journalistic integrity...
...balloon flew last Thursday, rabid coverage filled the airwaves and the Internet. It was forced into the public consciousness and crowded out almost all other news for hours. While Balloon Boy’s father and his convoluted morality may have sparked the media fire, lingering on the hoax itself should not distract from identification of the other, larger, problem at issue—that is, the essence of Richard Heene’s plot was to exploit a sensationalist media. He knew his story would explode as soon as the media caught wind, giving him all the attention...
...story once they had secured evidence that it was a hoax, which happened as early as the night of the incident itself. Even if this disclosure could only come at the expense of the family’s cooperation, it is not legitimate civil practice to deceive the public. The Heenes too, of course, are at fault, and the state of Colorado may yet charge them with three felonies for their brash fame-seeking. If upheld, such charges could result in as many as six years in prison and $500,000 in fines. But the biggest culprit was the media...
Given Fox’s constant attacks on reason and manipulation of the facts—even including the events they report—it is shocking and disappointing that so much of the American public appears to be captivated by that duplicity. The onus is on more credible news sources to expose Fox News for what it really is. Unfortunately, the once-vaunted CNN, with a few exceptions, seems more concerned with Balloon Boy than with exposing Fox’s lies concerning the most important issues...
...White House is in her indictment of Fox as “a wing of the Republican Party.” That slip reveals that the White House is in fact concerned with the lies surrounding the national discourse—concerned enough to attack it in an official public-relations capacity...