The age of the media hoax

stu says:

10:28am | 19/10/09

Poor Caroline Overington. Tweeted 25 times on this story last week. Now what will she have to talk about? Oh yes, a Sky newsreader has had a baby… well, there we go, that gives Caroline something to do.

Dianne says:

10:35am | 19/10/09

The saddest part of it all, is that little boy and his two siblings being told to lie. Falcon (What’s in a name) will be haunted with the memory that his parents will be charged with a felony crime because he ‘gave it away’. They will probably not end up in prison, but nonetheless this is a sad state of affairs and no doubt will have grave implications on the family dynamic. 

The pressure he has been put under is enormous and the fact that he threw up on live television is embarrassing. Some parents should not have children, this is just another way to abuse children.

shabangabang says:

11:19am | 19/10/09

@stu - I tweeted about the story too. Sure, my tweets were along the lines of Alien abductions, and Yo Balloon Boy, I’m a let you finish, but Anne Frank had the best attic hideout spot of all time, but they were tweets nonetheless.
I think the immediacy of todays media leads to stories like this, where the objective is to get the story out ASAP, then check the facts or say oops later on.

Heléna says:

11:22am | 19/10/09

I so agree Dianne - I felt terrible watching that little boy be sick - how could any parent allow that to happen to their child or set that kind of example for their family - ultimately they will probably all be better off with their dad locked away

iansand says:

11:25am | 19/10/09

Please identify the danger.  The problem that the Heenes have is that they exploited a gullible media.  Which has turned on them.

Bt says:

12:08pm | 19/10/09

While it’s true that this is crazy and wrong and bad parenting at its best, it must be remembered that a lot of Americans are struggling at the moment. I suppose they were just trying to make a buck if they like the thousands (millions?) of other Americans have fallen into severe financial distress during the global financial crisis. I guess if my house was on the line I would start getting creative too! Just a suggestion.

jonathan says:

12:18pm | 19/10/09

I agree with iansand:  where was the danger?  The kid was hiding, he was never up in the balloon…

The only danger i see is that the parents are dickheads who are teaching their children that lying and deception is an okay way to get ahead in life.

And good on them for playing the media.  There’s nothing quite as sensational as sensationalism.

Shano says:

01:11pm | 19/10/09

The dangers lie with the amount of resources that were extracted away from actual daily emergencies that would have been taking place also. These people are the victims because they did not get the attention they rightfully might have needed.
If it’s as hard to get an ambulance in the US, as it is in QLD you will see the gfravity of stunts like this.
All because this self-serving ass was trying to make a name for himself - again - .This is why reality TV is TRULY evil. Look at the depths it will make people go to in the name of the ol’ LOOK AT ME.

Gregory says:

01:12pm | 19/10/09

The danger was with taking up the precious time and resources of emergency services which could have resulted in tragic consequences for genuine claims of emergency.

Steve Smith says:

01:35pm | 19/10/09

What ever happened to the term “reliable source” when reporting? In order to be first to break the story, our news relies on coked up bogans or obviously neglected children.. great work.

dan says:

01:39pm | 19/10/09

Let us not forget our friendly English back packer who was “lost” for 11 days and then escaped with a tidy $200,000 after pledging a good portion of it to the emergency services who rescued him.  Even though he’ll never admit it we all know it was a fake

Phil who is single, drives a BMW and earns $180,00 says:

01:43pm | 19/10/09

Anyone who says they don’t create false online identities to manage their brand is either lying or isn’t trying hard enough.

iansand says:

01:53pm | 19/10/09

I saw all those news stories about the unattended disasters in Colorado while this was going on.  Not.

Zeta says:

02:03pm | 19/10/09

People are quick to judge the media for ‘sensationalising’ the story, but they forget that sometimes, news really is sensational. Break it down for a second: a UFO shaped helium filled baloon was being chased cross country because Police and Emergency Services beleived there may be a 6 year old boy inside, whose parents were wife swapping storm chasing mad scientists. I bet even the staid news directors at the austere public access networks acknowledged that that wasn’t just news, it was sensational news. It was sensational enough to be on Australian television news, forcing out the ‘Dramatic Miranda Kerr Weight-Loss’ story for at least half a day.

The media are prone to falling for hoaxes. This doesn’t highlight any weakness in the standard of reporting, or the ability of journalists to tell truth from a lie. The reality of most media outlets is that they are under staffed, with those staff being under paid and under a tremendous ammount of stress to meet deadlines that shift with the hunger for online content. Without the time and resources to conduct a critical analysis of every press release or report from a radio scanner, they have to take events at face value and report them as they appear at the time.

Personally, I enjoyed the balloon boy saga as what the Fox News Network would call ‘newsertainment’, and I’m not going to pass moral judgements on the parents when the media reporting out of their home town has already proved to be pretty inaccurate. I enjoyed the rise and descent into mediocrity of the Chk Chk Boom girl in the same way.

Strangely, I didn’t enjoy the ‘Sydney is the most gullible state’ gag played by the ‘Hungry Beast’ program on ABC, probably because as much as I respect journalists, I can’t stand watching a bunch of skinny leg jean wearing inner west trashbags rant about an industry they’re too juevinile to be allowed to work in yet.

Kym Durance says:

02:08pm | 19/10/09

Some people are questioning the danger - the danger resides in the notority these wingnuts will attract - whether they are convicted or not - this jvenile escapade will get replayed for eons - 20 to 1 famous hoaxes, various crime investigation compilations - and worse still it will maintain “reality TV” in the forefront of peoples minds when we all know the whole notion of reality TV , those who dream it up and those who aspire to be on it and those who work in it should be consigned to the trunk marked “never to be opened again”

Vicki PS says:

02:20pm | 19/10/09

Child exploitation like this makes me want to puke along with poor little Falcon.  Lay the blame where it belongs, with lackwits who allow ‘reality’ TV to flourish by watching the crap.

Clover says:

03:40pm | 19/10/09

Zeta@02:03pm:  “Skinny leg jean wearing inner west trashbags”
Haha! Line of the day!

shano says:

03:42pm | 19/10/09

@Iansand - fair call - but I’m sure with a newsday that huge even the locals wouldn’t have heard about Edna Potter aged 81 who died of a stroke at home or on the way to the hospital in her son’s car

andrew says:

03:45pm | 19/10/09

people want easy money. to these folks the media is ‘cheque book’ journalism.  hopefully they’ll sell their story and live on easy street.  unfortunately most people have to work for their dosh.

Joel B1 says:

04:17pm | 19/10/09

re Phil @01:43pm

I wouldn’t boast about earning $18,000…

AT says:

05:18pm | 19/10/09

Zeta,

I too enjoyed the Balloon Boy show. The script, art direction, cinematography, choreography, the setting, the cast - all brilliant and genuinely sensational, no journalist could be accused of hyping up this one or be blamed for falling for it, but I disagree that journalists in general are victims of poor resources and staff cuts.

True enough, newsrooms these days are under resourced and under staffed, but anybody who has witnessed or merely been in the vicinity of a “big news” story where the media spares no expense and assigns all possible staff to cover it, will know that what makes the news and what actually happened are two very different things.

All the coverage will focus on the most sensational/spectacular/shocking aspect or item overlooking the more banal, but crucially important stuff that tells the “full story”. You know, that “crucial analysis” stuff of which you speak. On the “big news” stories that stuff is done and it might merit a sentence or a throwaway line, but for the most part, even the best resourced media product is as trite, superficial and disingenuous as the work of the harried journo doing the job three people.

So I’m not sure that under resourced journalists are victims of budget cuts, but rather heroic figures capable of producing the same quality for a fraction of the cost.

shano says:

05:40pm | 19/10/09

hahahhahahahahahROFL

Jay says:

07:14pm | 19/10/09

I find it interesting that you didn’t mention the best hoaxes of the last two weeks - the media being taken in by the same hoax two weeks in a row by the ABC’s Hungy Beast!

Observer says:

08:49pm | 19/10/09

The balloon was too small to have lifted the weight of the child-a little critical thinking would have shown that.

Julio says:

03:50am | 20/10/09

Hahhahaha Phil’s number plate is BMW 999.  Because it’s y’know a BMW.  Hence the BMW in the number plate.  Thus identifying the vehicle as a BMW, and that the number of people who thought of it before Phil was 998.  Or was that 99,8.

watty says:

08:28am | 20/10/09

No bigger or damaging than the ETS hoax being perpetrated on all Aiustralians by Rudd and Wong.(with Malcolm hanging off the coat tails).

Apocalypse Now!  Bull….!

Scared of the ETS says:

09:24am | 20/10/09

Watty @ 8.28 - agree completely.
The Balloon Boy hoax was a terrible waste of money and resources, but it’s a drop in the ocean of the billions of dollars that the entirely useless ETS is going to cost us. People need to start waking up to this, and quickly.

M says:

10:32am | 20/10/09

I don’t see why he has to go to jail,  no one was in danger and no one got hurt?

James says:

10:35am | 20/10/09

Yes i agree, poor Falcon that is a horrible name your branded with for life, some people should be allowed to name their kids… no doubt now that the parents are going to cop it for the hoax they will resent the child for blabbing. and as i said, with a name like that the kids got it tough enough

Sandy says:

04:35pm | 20/10/09

Imagine how pissed the Americans would be, after the entire nation prayed for the boys’s safety and had tears in their eyes when they thought little Falcone could have fallen out of the balloon….the boy pulling on their heart strings…only to be told hey wipe your tears it’s a hoax…..it’s mind boggling…..Now i wonder if the whole Kanye West thing was staged…it’s possible

Aardvark's lunch says:

06:16am | 21/10/09

In terms of a hoax, it’s a bit hard to determine how it could have been uncovered before the balloon came down. This is the extreme end of the spectrum, since most people wouldn’t do this for publicity, (assuming it does turn out to be a hoax) - look at what happened to the Chaser, (re: use of kids). Stunts like the ones pulled by Hungry Beast are different, because the evidence is there to be found with a small amount of effort. If there is an event, you ask the people involved, in this case only a few people were a witness, so you can’t verify with another witness. Chk-chk-boom girl’s version could have been verified by talking to someone else.  Maybe you can tell us how the Heene story could have been revealed as a hoax sooner?