Pica Pole : Balloon Boy story had wings

BENTONVILLE — Debate has rolled along in the newsroom and elsewhere since Friday, when what quickly became known simply as “Balloon Boy” floated in to fill the insatiable appetite of network television.

Two camps exist on the issue of “Is that really news?”:

◊The situation was blown way out of proportion.

◊The situation was a news event extraordinaire.

And that was before the revelation that authorities say they have strong evidence that the Balloon Boy incident was a hoax.

For the people who missed the incident (there have to be a few people who don’t know about it, right?), the story line is that a wannabe scientist dad and his family (wife, three boys) built a large helium balloon that looked like a flying saucer. Somehow one of the boys (Falcon, go figure, the kid with the bird name) climbed inside, and the balloon floated away from their Fort Collins, Colo., home.

That is high drama, no way around it. Add in TV helicopters, a fleet of cars and trucks following on the ground, diversion of airliners to and from the Denver International Airport, and the announcement that one of the kids is missing, then slather on a dose of something offbeat, something to break the monotony of the routine. Who can argue that’s not a formula for worldwide TV coverage?

From the vantage point in front of the TV, it was hard to determine the craft’s size. We all know that helium has goodlifting power. The thing could easily lift a 6-year-old - if it is big enough.

As the craft came to the ground, we saw a person run clumsily along a plowed field, grasping for a tether rope.

That’s when the size of the balloon came into better focus.

Observing the person near the balloon allowed for an estimation of the craft’s size.

Because of the unusual shape, it was difficult to estimate the volume; however, it became fairly clear that the balloon didn’t have a lot of cubic feet, which determines lifting power. A quick consultation with the Internet yielded information about helium’s lift. Was it enough to lift Falcon? Maybe, but probably not.

Back to the question of “Is that really news?”

I’ve heard some say it was not worth continuous live coverage on scores of channels; that it was a feeding frenzy on a slow day; that it was of absolutely no consequence to the world.

I argue that, indeed, it was news. Not in the sense of people dying in Darfur, or people blowing themselves up in markets in the Middle East, or someone finding a cure for AIDS; but certainly there is an interest - a fascination - in a boy in a flying-saucer balloon high over Colorado.

Think back to your childhood: Didn’t you, at least once, try to fly? With a sheet, or anumbrella, with homemade wings? My parents will tell you that I tried it, a couple of times. I know that when I found out about the story, I quickly inserted myself into it: Here’s a boy who really did it, who did what I always wanted to do: He’s flying!

The story has a number of things that make it compelling.

There’s drama: Is the boy really inside?

There’s conflict: What if he fell out?

There’s anger: How could parents let such a thing happen?

There’s awe: Could someone really make such a contraption fly?

With the hoax revealed - thanks to a few words spoken by Falcon the Balloon Boy himself on national television - the story took a sharp turn into a much larger story: adult exploitation of children, specifically for reality television.

Few can argue that the new story angle is NOT worth talking about. So, from that standpoint alone, the Balloon Boy saga had news value. Could that be seen on the front side of the story? Nope.

So, why was it news before it was news? For the same reason every other story is: The human quest for a simple thing - “To Know.”

Isn’t that, at the very basic level, what makes humans human?

◊◊ ◊

Kent Marts is editor/general manager of The Benton County Daily Record. His column appears on Wednesdays. He can be reached at kentm@nwanews.

com.