Yesterday, the nation's news media spent hours focused on a balloon floating over Colorado that was supposedly carrying a boy. When the balloon landed, the boy wasn't there, instead he was hiding in the house. Okey dokey, end of story, right? Wrong. This morning, I turned on the CBS morning show and the balloon boy was the top story. I switched to Good Morning America, and there was more balloon boy. The Today Show? Same thing. CNN? You got it. 20 minutes later, I checked again and CBS was still playing the balloon boy story. The boy wasn't in the balloon. Basically, the national "news" media was focused on a balloon floating over Colorado and today, when it was clear that the story was bogus, they were still focused on a balloon floating over Colorado. I know it may have been a hoax perpetuated by the boy's parents, but still, it's just a balloon floating over Colorado. You know how children are easily distracted by a shiny object?
I can't think of a better metaphor for our nation's "news" media than an empty balloon.
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