I fucking hate reality TV.
I never watch it. If my kids are watching it, and I don't feel like fighting for the remote, I leave the room. I can't stand watching shmucks parade their foibles on TV for celebrity status. It tarnishes the word celebrity - a term developed with the root "celebrate," as in, to acknowledge people worthy of celebrating.
This is why I hate the Balloon Boy story, it was a three to four hour reality TV show, foisted on unsuspecting haters (like me) as "news."
The day of the story, I was passing through the break room at work and saw the limp UFO zooming across the landscape. I got the update from my coworkers and then listened to the CNN feed for about five minutes. Then, I had to get to work. I checked back a couple of times (but mostly, I was working), and then listened to the radio on and off during my hour commute home.
I was wondering, how did the kid get in? How cold was it at 8000 feet? Who was going to have to find a dead, six-year old body in the wreckage? Then, at the end of my commute, more than three hours later, I heard for the first time, that this was a reality TV show family.
At which point I said: "Bastards!"
Not the balloon family - their motivations were completely transparrant - no, the cable news channels. They suck. I mean, really? You're not going to tell me for three hours that these knuckle-heads are veterans of reality TV? I mean, FOX, CNN, MSNBC - you haven't been talking to the local affiliate? Who have already done features on this family! That within 15 minutes of the balloon being on TV you aren't reporting the STRONG likelihood that this whole thing is a hoax? A stunt to get back on TV?
Oh yeah, and verifying the story you are covering. Before the day was over, "aviation experts" were chiming in. No, not the one that was being interviewed about the possibility of rescue. The ones that were saying that there was no way that the balloon could have carried a 40 plus pound person.
No no no no no. They knew. They just milked us for ratings. And that is bullshit from any organization that has the word "news" anywhere in their title or description of what they do. This was presented as "breaking news," but the obvious doubts about the story were left out until hours of ratings had been recorded. Either through extreme incompetence, or through a quest for those same reality TV ratings. We should be pissed off, because either way we were sold a bill of goods, and provided ratings to the networks, for what turned out to be bullshit.
Now, of course, we know the truth - after many hours more of "news" coverage. We even have video of this family releasing the balloon. We have an admission from the kid, on TV (mission accomplished) that it was "for the show." And people are pissed. Arianna Huffington was among the first to express her displeasure on the Ed Shultz show.
And today, after days of milking this non-story, Ed was whining on his radio show like one of my kids about criticism he received for preempting guests to cover Balloon bullshit. "This was a breaking story!" he cried. "We do news too, and this is a news network!" "I'm gonna' go back to Fargo, I don't need this!" he lamented. "Our ratings, and the ratings of all three cable networks were huge" [sic] "Progressives can be mean!"... Jesus, he went on for at least five minutes.
First of all, Big Eddie, go the fuck back to Fargo if you can't man-up to a little criticism from Arriana. Second of all, the point you made about ratings was key - that's what the journalistic decision making on this story was all about: ratings. The artificial drama that this family provided was (according to my conjecture) the sole factor in how much coverage the three cable networks devoted to this story. At your news network, nobody cared about the facts, just the drama-driven ratings. Not fact-checking, background investigation (by the way, an assistant producer, with a computer, the dad's name and five minutes could have come up with a YouTube channel of hoaxes by this family), or objective reporting (like, was it even possible for the balloon to fly with a kid in it?). No, it was about reality TV ratings. Congratulations Ed, you are a reality TV star. And so are all of your colleagues.
Whiney Ed Schultz is a reality TV star because this story reveals what the cable, and probably broadcast news has become: reality TV. The old axiom of "if it bleeds, it leads" has become the production focus, not just the teaser. And this has ramifications for how we understand what is happening in our world. The shiny, UFO-shaped health care object was "Obama and his death panels are killing your grandma!" This was untrue and crazy, but Newt was saying it on NPR without challenge or postscript investigation on the morning of Obama's health care speech. Reported as "news" and driving people to town hall rallies for serious drama. The Balloon Boy story shows us just how far down the reality TV rabbit-hole our news media has fallen. And this is why people are pissed...
...we might have to go back to reading newspapers.
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