World mesmerized by event...but worthwhile use...

As I was exercising three weeks ago, flashing upon the televison screens in front of me were the images of a floating saucer type balloon with a supposed young boy in the basket of the object. As I somewhat watched this event unfold I was amazed by the fact that this was the "event of the day." I also thought that there simply was better news out there to be covered than an hour and a half marathon of three television stations following this event. When looking at the effects of mass media and mass communication, this was surely one to look at. The following day, this same event covered the front pages of the St. Paul newspaper and the Minneapolis newspaper. Talk about publicity! Even Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, and David Letterman had their jokes about this event.

The safety of the boy was the main concern for this event. This is important as the boy could have been killed and that is a tragedy for a family. I do not baulk at that and would feel sorrow for that family if had this happened. But the safety of the boy throughout the story was not even known. There was no fact about the boy was there or he was not. So, for two plus hours the news media ASSUMED that the boy was in the balloon. An assumption only? Was this the appropriate use of media for this event? I question the excessive use of media coverage to follow this floating object for over two hours with only repeating statements of what was happening. While some people may have been entertained by this news coverage, I was bored by this because it was not that important.

While we now know what the event was about and the family is being questioned about the event and possibly being charged with neglect and being handed a bill for the costs of the five hour search/following of their son, whom was never even in the balloon object in the end.

I feel that mass media should be used to spread information to massive amounts of people about topics that affect or impact more than just one person.