Balloon Boy: What’s So Funny About The Media’s Abuse?

Here’ the GMA clip again. Take note of what’s happening in the interview when Falcon begins to get sick. Also, note Richard Heene’s classy admonition to Falcon not to trip on his mic wire on his way out.

Somewhat to Diane Sawyer‘s credit, she steps in where Falcon’s parents fail, asking if one of them wants to follow him to the bathroom to make sure he’s okay. On the other hand, she continues the interview even after Richard Heene attributes Falcon’s illness to the onset of an asthma attack.

I contacted Good Morning America to ask why they didn’t stop the interview when Falcon became ill, and did they now wish they had? A GMA spokesperson responded:

“GMA” paused its interview with the Heene family when Falcon began to feel ill. In addition, we asked if he needed to use the restroom and suggested his mother check on him.

I also asked, knowing that Falcon said what he did on CNN, why didn’t Diane press him on the clear contradictions in Richard’s story? ABC’s spokesperson replied:

“He’s 6 years old. We asked about his comments the night prior and also asked the dad.”

Now, check out the Today Show spot, and see if you can figure out what it has in common with the GMA clip. Hint: Falcon gets sick when his dad starts to lie about him.

I also contacted NBC News to ask why they didn’t stop the interview when Falcon got sick. Here’s what their spokesperson had to say:

“We let the father finish answering the question, then we ended the interview and went to a news break to give the family time to take care of their sick son. We then had just the father come back on to continue the interview. And we covered up the boy getting sick with video for our other feeds (CT, MT, PT). ”

In both interviews, the interviewer poses the questions in ultra-passive fashion, as if to say “I don’t doubt you, but these wacky skeptics ‘swirling around’ on the ‘message boards’ are gonna hassle me if I don’t answer.”  GMA even went to the trouble of mocking up a “message board” graphic to underscore this.

Neither interviewer effectively challenges Heene on unclear or contradictory details of his story, nor did CBS News’ The Early Show. All three were all too eager to swallow hard on Richard Heene’s lies. Meredith Vieira even notes that Richard has had all night to talk with the family about Falcon’s outburst, and still readily accepts Heene’s answer.

Of course, the real villains here are Falcon Heene’s parents, but the media missed a crucial opportunity to rescue Falcon from his father’s lies. Not all children are able to tell when something bad happens. Falcon did, and he should have been believed. Richard Heene may be a joke, but what he put his son through is no laughing matter.

The media has a shot at some redemption here, however. As I’ve said before, when the next Kanye West comes along, the internets will forget about “Balloon Boy,” and Falcon Heene will still be a 6 year-old who lived through something very traumatic, who was the white-hot center of the universe for a moment, and who painted a bullseye on his dad on national television.  What happens to him from here is a story worth telling.

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