"Balloon Boy" and the "Party Crashers"

Do you ever feel like news story just wont go away. It is the topic of conversation on television, radio, and internet. Take for example the recent White House "party crashing" couple, the Salahis and the "balloon boy hoax" Heenes. Within hours the "balloon boy" story was all over social media sites, had jokes and parodies, was the number one search on Google (34 out of 40 searches were related to in incident), was referenced on Saturday Night Live, and the family was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer, Larry King, Good Morning America, and Today. We have yet to find out more statistics regarding the State Dinner party crashers, but from what I have seen it seems that we are headed in the same direction. These are interesting stories, by why are they so dominant in the media for three weeks straight? What is the obsession with stories like these and why are they so successful? What I also find amazing about these stories is how fast they spread around the world. The speed at which they go from news coverage, to social media sites, to radio, and eventually circulate in everyday conversation in almost every area of our lives from work, to school, to home, and with friends. Once the initial news comes out it doesn't go away for weeks and it dominates the media in every aspect. What are the ingredients that make these stories so appealing for such a prolonged period? I think that part of why these stories are so huge is because of the attention media gives it. It makes me wonder who is at fault, or if the media and the public are equally at fault. Would the public be as interested as they are if there was less coverage of them, or does the media give the public what they desire... stories like this. I think that people like the Heene and Salahis need to be ignored as much as possible. Fame seeking people will realize that 15 minutes of fame has now become three weeks of fame and we will continue to see more and more media stunts.

But then again, here I am blogging about it along with the rest of the world!