Up,Up, and Away.....Balloons, Cable TV News and Credibility!

What do balloons and cable network news have in common?
Until last Thursday nothing much. Since then, it is the credibility of the news that cable networks report to the believing audience of cable news. The old TV networks lost their credibility for reporting the news when Bill Clinton's libido pre-emptied the historic visit of John Paul II to Cuba. Fidel and Il Papa on the tarmac.......that was news! The soiled blue dress, the parsing of the verb and Fidel and the Pope had had their fifteen minutes. The news hounds beat a quick exit back to Washington to begin the coverage of the farce orchestraed by many of the same folks who are trying to get the goods on Barack Obama!

Young Falcon Henee and his wife swapping (only make-believe, I think) Dad, fooled the media and a good part of the cable news audience by staging the Phineas Fogg adventure in a beautiful balloon over Colorado. The local sheriff is not so sure New York Times story Sunday October 18. The coverage by the principal cable networks, CNN, Fox, and MSN, the chase helicopters, the touchdown, the Dad running to the balloon to embrace his little Falcon were exciting to begin with. About halfway through the drama reality bit! The balloon was moving too fast to have been occupied. Dad and our hero's brother contradicted themselves. And like Dorothy, Falcon was safe and sound in the root cellar. Aunt Emm and Toto breathed a sign of relief.

The sad part of this tale is the cable news and its credibility. Many get their information, if not their news, electronically. The print media is all but embalmed and buried. The news reporters, who methodically checked and cross checked sources and details have been replaced by the sensational talking heads who report the "news" in shifts on the cable networks. If its two PM, it must be Heather....if its six PM it must be Clyde. These folks are personalities and not reporters. Most of these people, probably did graduate from a journalism program or may have been political science majors in college. But they are not reporters. And the directors and producers are hungry for ratings and market share. News has become a by product of the market share of the potential audience.

Our dilemma, as news consumers, is do we believe the reports and what filter do we use to decide? The events in Iran this past Summer has perhaps given us a frame to ponder. The "man and woman in the street" may be our news source in the future. The flood of electronic communication devices, accessing many medias, may become our primary source of events. The news analysts of the past may be replaced by the blogger-at-large.

It will be a brave new world of information......the depth may be left to the receiver to determine. The breadth of information may startling. Sifting through it will be the fun!

JOS