Word: ballooning
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...would be too simple to write off last week’s tumultuous balloon incident as a twisted misdirection of the public by a few Colorado kooks looking for their fifteen minutes. The hoax’s exposure brings with it another one of much greater significance. Obsessive television coverage of “Balloon Boy” is indicative of the media’s own sordid state. This episode brings to light a news environment in which sensationalism trumps responsible reporting and where the quick sell far outweighs any shade of journalistic integrity...
...officers and National Guard troops and volunteers fanned out in every direction; TV helicopters turned and circled overhead in the widening gyre. There were power lines to worry about; some planes heading into Denver were rerouted. The cable-news anchors called in experts to speculate about how high the balloon might drift, how cold it could get inside, how fast it might fall, the odds Falcon would suffer hypoxia, or worse. But the only thing you could think as you watched, was how frightened that child had to be, how crazed with fear his parents, and how there seemed...
...that, at least, there was a glimmer of truth. When the balloon landed in a soft, freshly ploughed field north of Denver International Airport, there was a leap of hope; when the rescuers found no one inside to rescue, a second, sinking fear took old. Had Falcon fallen out, or tried to jump; would his body be found broken somewhere near his house...
...says something about either our goodness or gullibility, or both, that when Falcon was found to have been hiding out in the attic the whole time, we still sought the gentle explanation. Maybe it was an accident? He'd unleashed the balloon and then hidden out, for fear of getting in trouble. On Oct. 16, Larimer County sheriff Jim Alderden announced that he was "convinced" the parents were telling the truth about thinking their son was truly in peril; so were many other people when they heard the frantic father and sobbing mother on the 911 call. But this time...
...tripping the lights, ringing the bells, savoring the spotlight until the moment on Larry King Live when Richard asked Falcon why he hadn't come down from the attic when called, and the child murmured, inconceivably, devastatingly, "You guys said that, um, we did this for the show." (Read "Balloon Boy on Larry King: 'We Did It for the Show...