I don’t think the term “weird news day” even begins to sum up yesterday’s balloon boy absurdity. I was following the story from the beginning on various news outlets, but primarily via CNN, MSNBC, and Gawker (which, despite being a “blog” had some really great updates for those of us who were at work and couldn’t turn on a TV). CNN was the first to break the story, originally declaring that the helium balloon, floating high above Colorado, had a child inside. This is what sparked the maelstrom of national attention. A 6 year old helpless and trapped in a balloon that could crash at any moment? This is cable news’ dream: since all TV news is chosen based on what news makes the biggest visual impact, this was their gold mine. They can show the image of the balloon while speculating about the poor child trapped inside, and in the meantime providing riveting interviews with scientists and local police about the kid’s safety and whereabouts.
But let’s think about this for a second.
CNN’s primary source was the child’s brother. Yes, the Colorado police and CNN unequivocally believed the account of a child, and without further fact checking or questioning of the family’s background (Wife Swap? Seriously?) or bothering to figure out if the kid was lying, they essentially carried that lie to the American public and made us all watch footage of an empty balloon all fucking afternoon.
And we bought it. Why? Because even if “journalism is dying” and “Twitter is the new vehicle for news” and “all media has a liberal bias,” we still inherently believe that the mainstream media is telling us the truth. We believed CNN because we’ve always believed CNN. We didn’t question their fact checking until it started to become clear that they had completely fucked up. The balloon came back down to earth and no one was in it. OOPS.
Then, to top it all off, once the police held a press conference to say that the kid was hiding in his own fucking attic the entire time, CNN got scooped by MSNBC. I was refreshing and refreshing CNN’s article and they didn’t update it until a full 10 minutes after MSNBC broke the news about the child’s safety. So to recap: CNN broke a completely fake, unverified story, garnered international attention for it, sparked a series of memes which landed “Anne Frank” as the top trending topic on Twitter (Get it? Attic reference?), and then when the story is found to be false they get scooped by another MSM network. Are you KIDDING me? This is a CNN fail of epic proportions.
A journalist’s primary responsibility is to tell the truth. CNN couldn’t even manage to do that. I’m a blogger and I know the importance of fact checking. People are always so distrustful of blogs and their easily accessible “misinformation,” but for fuck’s sake, if we can’t trust the MSM to verify the statement of a child before reporting the story, who the hell CAN we trust to fact check?
I’m pretty much just angry because I totally got punk’d with this one. Whatever. At least my Local post landed on the front page of Google.
October 16, 2009 at 12:37 pm |
What happened is a great example of what the television industry has become. It used to be where some industries and institutions were exempt from market pressures and people told the actual news aside from any profit motives. Television broadcast companies were made illegal to make profit off of anything back then, maybe that’s why some news outlets now say that back in Walter Cronkite’s day the news coverage was better. So now when you introduce this profit motive all of a sudden, you are going to get shit news just for the sake of ratings, and to benefit the advertising industry. (Shit like CBS covering the Staples Center for a whole week so maybe there is the possibility of Michael Jackson coming back to life, or just offering the illusion of the whole thing). And that is why you get shit news like this balloon boy. Back then news was good without any profit motive, now i keep it off because its what it’s all based on.
October 16, 2009 at 1:10 pm
So true.
And even in addition to that, because channels like CNN are literally expected to run news 24/7, it’s easy to let stories that are in no way meaningful (or even true!) become huge features.
October 16, 2009 at 1:06 pm |
I’m curious about this: is there a professional code for journalists? Being an accounting major, we learn about all the standards of the profession– the ethics, the training, the laws, serving the public interest, etc. After Enron and World-Com, the profession and government ushered in an even more rigorous process for accountants.
Thinking about journalism, would it ever get to that point? Should it?
October 16, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Yes, most journalists–specifically those who go onto report for hard hitting news orgs like MSM companies, take ethics courses. There are foundational ethics, but the problem is that the internet is more or less shifting the definition of journalism ethics. For example, I think it’s absolutely necessary to link to the original source when you’re writing an online article, because that’s part of the ethics of the “link economy.” But this is sort of a new idea, so not everyone adheres to it. The NYPost, for example, is notorious for refusing to credit bloggers with links.
October 16, 2009 at 1:18 pm |
And my reliance on newspapers reaches a new high.
October 16, 2009 at 1:52 pm
um, 1) LOL nice middle name
2) yeah. it seems like cnn decided to ascribe to the denton philosophy laid out in this memo that the awl posted yesterday. for blogs, immediacy is key. but for the msm, accuracy is key because everyone takes what you say at face value. you can’t rescind a tv headline the way you can update a blog post. in this way we totally still need hard hitting, fact checking journalists. i’m just not sure i want to be one of them.
October 16, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I second you, David Gatsby Aragon, and I agree with Jessica, great name.
I think this is so stupid, I can’t even express my frustrations eloquently, because there isn’t anything else to say, except people are too in a rush to get things done right, and everyone suffers.
October 17, 2009 at 6:03 am |
Television’s completely fake.. ESPECIALLY the news. I can tell you because I’ve edited lots of news pieces. You get footage of 10 people saying they love the new Mayor and 10 people saying they hate the new mayor and depending on the story the producer wants to tell, you end up broadcasting 5 yay and 1 nay and make it look like the majority of people are on the bandwagon. *YAWN*
Not only isn’t television/news to be believed, but at this point, they’re trying to figure out how they’re going to stay afloat. I live only a few miles from where the pilot put the plane down in the Hudson saving people’s lives and I found out about it from someone in another state who found out about it on Twitter.
Nobody’s waiting for 12pm, 6pm and 11pm to get their news anymore. CNN is forced to break unverified stories or be late with the scoop. The time it would take to fact-check would have everyone else tuning in to another channel and you lose your ratings.
As far as the public, they’re conditioned to believe anything that they hear. C’est La Vie. \o/
October 17, 2009 at 1:49 pm |
Everyone is so cynical! Is it just possible that his parents were given some fucking HORRIFYING information and reacted accordingly? Do we really have to blame them for being on Wife Swap?
(also, it’s really amusing that the acronym for Mainstream Media, MSM, is the same as, in Sexuality Studies, the acronym for “Men who have Sex with Men”)
October 17, 2009 at 2:02 pm
I don’t even care about his parents or Wife Swap. I care that CNN decided to give journalism the biggest middle finger by not fact checking a report from a 10 year old.
October 17, 2009 at 7:38 pm |
Checking a report? They searched the house twice and came up with nothing because the kid was hiding really fucking well, and they couldn’t verify whether he was in the balloon or not because, well, elevation 8,000 feet. I think you’re just looking for an excuse to slam the mainstream media for material to post on your blog (that you feel bad for neglecting). By saying “it’s okay for blogs to be wrong because we’re all about immediacy,” you’re being so one-sided. If CNN had waited to “verify” verify the story and Gawker broke it first, you’d be saying “ohhhhhh CNN you got scooped!”
October 18, 2009 at 11:02 am
Actually this is stuff I care about and think about and not just bullshit that I made up because I need things to post. DUH I’m one-sided. I’m sorry, were you thinking this piece was not going to be my opinion? Did you think you were reading the NYT over here? If CNN verified it THE STORY NEVER WOULD HAVE BROKE. They would have realized it was all fake. And that’s my point. Of course blogs get to be wrong as long as they’re not toting the same journalistic ethics as the MSM. If Gawker went around with a slogan like “fair and balanced” or “always accurate!” then it’d be just as obnoxious for them to not fact check. But an organization like CNN that has a built-in trust and wayyyyy more viewership/readership than Gawker DOES have a bigger responsibility to fact check because no one in their right mind is holding Gawker and CNN to the same standards. Maybe it’s unfair but that’s the way it is right now; until people have the same respect for online journalism as they do for the MSM, blogs have more leeway to fuck up, mostly because when a blog fucks up the entire country doesn’t hear about it.
Oh and ps it WAS A FUCKING HOAX, so stop acting like everyone is being sooooo critical and negative and you’re just this ball of sunshine who can see through the snark.
In other news, thanks for the dickishness part two. You’re really something recently, Sam. I respect that you disagree with me here, but considering we’re actually friends you’d think there would have been a nicer way to state that disagreement.