So if this was a hoax, I wonder what they hoped to gain from the negative publicity because they would have to be pretty stupid to think they wouldn't get caught. It's not highschoolers pulling prank. (Where they wouldn't think it through)
In the 500 channel universe if people didn't want to watch the story, they'd have plenty of other things to watch instead. The fact that this thread is as big as it is demonstrates that this story caught people's attention.
But that's what I'm saying... It caught people's attention because there was no way it couldn't catch people's attention. It was everywhere. There may be 500 channels but how many of them at some point yesterday would have addressed this story? A huge number, I'd guess.
We follow these stories in order to be plugged in to what's happening in the world, and what I'm getting at is that the 24 hour news cycle has tremendous power to shape what we think of as news. They've certainly replaced newspapers in that regard, the dwindling number of which still exist, precisely because they don't have to deal with same kind of time/space constraints of a newspaper. CNN can cover a story like this as it happens, rendering the newspaper article that comes out tomorrow, literally, old news. And I'm not arguing there isn't a demand for these types of stories, only that the demand is a byproduct of the very 24 hour news cycle that satisfies it.
I think you pointed out above another really interesting aspect of it... That there really is no dividing line anymore between what is 'news' and what is 'entertainment', but CNN and the major news outlets still try to legitimize their stories and themselves as 'newsworthy' in the eyes of the public - a good chunk of which believe it to be so (not everyone, of course, but a substantial percentage).
Last edited by liamenator; 10-16-2009 at 07:08 PM.
So if this was a hoax, I wonder what they hoped to gain from the negative publicity because they would have to be pretty stupid to think they wouldn't get caught. It's not highschoolers pulling prank. (Where they wouldn't think it through)
Any attention is good attention if you are trying to get a television program about your quirky storm chasing family picked up by a major network.
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Remember the time that the landing gear was screwed on that plane at LAX? Now that was some good TV.
The best/worst part about that was that it was a jetblue flight, so all of the passengers were watching the coverage. The flight staff was trying to keep everyone calm while the news anchors were basically saying "this plane is going to crash."
Yo balloon boy, Ima let you finish, but Ann Frank has the best attic hideout of all time!"
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Poor kid. I'm almost 30 and if I had to constantly do interviews with ravenous media I might get sick to. I hope his parents completely regret what they made their kids do.
I gotta say, back on the first page when Prototype suggested that it may be a hoax, I wrote out a post chastizing him for the sheer lunacy of the suggestion that any parent would do something like this. Glad I didn't post it.
This so-called 'father' needs a good flogging.
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Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
Exp:
Sheriff: Charges will be filed in balloon saga
Quote:
"We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances," Alderden said. "We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren't additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance."
Quote:
Alderden initially said there was no reason to believe the incident was a hoax. Authorities questioned the Heenes again after Falcon turned to his dad during a CNN interview Thursday night and said "you said we did this for a show" when asked why he didn't come out of his hiding place.
Yeah, but TLC (or whoever) wouldn't touch a hoaxer like this with a 10' pole. Plus they already had their 15 minutes with 2 episodes of Wife Swap.
right.. because jon and kate didn't turn into a ratings bonanza after they turned into a gong show... people tune into because they wanna what stupid **** is going to happen next.
right.. because jon and kate didn't turn into a ratings bonanza after they turned into a gong show... people tune into because they wanna what stupid **** is going to happen next.
That show is now canceled at the end of this season
