The "Balloon Boy" Excitement

So, I'm sure that everyone has heard the story about Balloon Boy by now. How could you not? The story took over all forms of media because the whole world was sitting and waiting for the balloon to land to see if the little boy was inside. When the balloon landed without anyone in it, a gasp could have been heard throughout the world. Fast forwarding a little, the boy was "found" hiding in a box inside the garage at his home. Everyone was relieved, but the story that had made its way to the headlines of every news source continued even though the actual story was over with, perhaps for a good reason. When the dad and son appeared on Larry King Live, the boy was asked about why he was hiding and he responded by saying that his dad "said it was all for the show". Immediately, it became obvious exactly what had happened--the entire thing was a hoax. But why?

Apparently the dad was hoping that this incident would help land his family a reality TV show. New information continues to come out including the fact that the parents called a news station to alert them of the incident before they even called the police. Even more, it came out this morning that the media was even in on this whole scam and that they PAID this family to do this entire stunt! Why? Because this media knew that this incident could help make them MONEY. The family did this stunt because they thought that the reality show would make them MONEY. If the media was indeed in on this hoax, it does nothing more than support the idea that the media's trust is being washed away little by little...

The Flood of 2009

As everyone knows, several parts of Georgia suffered severe damages due to the recent flooding—some right here in Cobb County. At the moment that it was clear that there would be significant flooding, the news media began to disperse in the affected areas in order to broadcast the situation to the public. They instantly jumped on the opportunity so that they could say they were the first on the scene because being first on the scene translates into more effectively serving the public. Pictures and horror stories continued to pour in of deaths, loss of homes, cars, and schools. Like the media, Governor Purdue wasted almost no time in visiting the affected areas by air to view the damage. After doing so, he held a press conference to announce that he would be sending a request to President Obama to declare 17 counties as a state of emergency in order to receive federal aid. As Georgia waited for a response, the media continued to display the horrifying pictures and stories. This effort either directly or indirectly influenced the amount of time it took to get a response from the federal government. Since President Bush had been accused by the media of taking his time to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina, President Obama probably did not want the same thing on his plate. So, he immediately sent Vice President Biden to Georgia to evaluate the damage and to speed up the process of making the federal funds available to Georgians affected by the flood. Either way you look at it, the media plays a significant role in influencing our leaders and their actions. Sometimes the public actually benefits from the media.

Breaking News: David Letterman had sex…

As I get in my car at 5:00 A.M. and turn the radio on, what is the first thing I hear that early in the morning? It wasn’t about health care, the possibility of the Olympics coming to Chicago, or about the economy. Surprisingly, the headlines of the morning were about a celebrity, David Letterman. Apparently on the previous night’s show, Letterman shared with his audience the fact that an individual had placed a letter in his car that stated that this individual knew a variety of “bad things” Letterman had done and that it would destroy Letterman’s career. The individual then proceeded to say in the letter that he wanted $2 million from Letterman in order to not come out to the media about the “bad things” mentioned in the letter. At this point, Letterman also shared with his audience what these allegations were. Apparently, Letterman had sex with a woman on his staff at the show and this individual thought he could benefit monetarily from this incident. Even though the talk show host was actually trying to be serious for once, his audience still laughed the entire time because this incident was providing ENTERTAINMENT.

Needless to say, this incident would not only provide entertainment/news for the rest of that day, but will also continue for days or weeks to come. This is just another of the thousands of examples of media losing its credibility of bringing important news to the public. A man had sex with a woman. So what? I do not really think this justifies taking over the news for days just to report something that is not out of the ordinary.