Police, for the most part, are trained to be trusted by the public. By the news media. Even by suspects of crimes. The actions of the Sheriff in Larimer County, Colorado in leading the media to report law enforcement didn't question "balloon boy" as a hoax calls into question the actions of his department in providing credible information to the public.
What comes first? The Sheriff points out, and most of us would use common sense to agree, that it was important to establish a level of trust and comfort with the Heene parents as a strategy to get to the bottom of Thursday's saucer-style balloon flight and gut-wrenching search for their six year old son. For hours, the nation held its breath waiting to find out the fate of the boy named Falcon.
This wasn't just your Nancy Grace-O'Reilly-Keith O-style godsend for a slow cable news night. All the major networks, all the big newspapers, all the radio news and opinion/talk shows, even the music shows, the web -- everybody -- was sucked into this one.
The breath-holding turned to cynicism even as the boy was found in a box in the family home; it worsened with the disaster on CNN's Larry King Show when guest host Wolf Blitzer effectively popped the father in the kisser with a direct question for little Falcon, answered in that tiny voice talking about "the show." It only got worse with the flurry of early-morning television interviews the following morning (who gets their kids up at five a.m. to show off on TV?) resulting in little Falcon hurling not once, but twice on the morning shows.
The parents pressed on, and even as most of us were incredulous with their actions while their son was barfing on his brother the Sheriff continued to maintain an aura of support for the Heene parents.
All a show, it turns out.
It was designed to make parents and children comfortable for what needed to come out -- the whole thing had been planned. Now the parents face possible felony charges, the Henne family name has achieved a level of notoriety the fame-seeking father hungered for but never envisioned and the three kids will be remembered as co-conspirators in the airborne cry-wolf scam everyone is talking about.
The strategy worked in landing the criminal fish. It exposed the pathetic, even twisted abuse of a child to satisfy what seems to be a classic unhealthy love of the spotlight. The system in this case worked behind the scenes to solve the case but it wasn't just being had by the Heene's but also by Sheriff Jim Alderden.
The Sheriff apologizes for "bumping up" against the line for manipulating the media. He didn't bump -- he drove over it was dozens of news vans, reporters and pundits in hot pursuit. We in the media helped him with every update, every "expert" unveiling developments, all in real time. I wonder if the role of the media in this case actually helped pump up the pressure on Heene to come clean?
We trust the police to tell us the truth -- even when recognizing it's OK to lie to suspects law enforcement suspect aren't so honest. Courts have ruled investigators can sometimes lie to suspects in order to get to the truth in a case but it's not O.K. for law enforcement witnesses and lawyers to lie in their testimony. I suspect most of you will think what Sheriff Alderden did to mislead the Heene's and pursue justice in this case was appropriate because the end justified his means.
Will we think this the next time a trusted authority uses ever tool necessary to mislead? Isn't that what many media critics accuse the media of being now? Has truth become that much of an accessory to public issues today -- from the political, to the criminal and now to the infotainment that gripped the nation for three hours last week?
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