Coverage of the ‘balloon boy’ hoax forms a withering indictment of for-profit news

On 15 October 2009, a man named Richard Heene in Fort Collins, Colorado reported that his ‘experimental flying saucer’ had accidentally taken flight with his six-year-old son trapped inside. It was an event tailor-made for television. News channels around the world tracked the perilous journey and uncertain fate of the ‘balloon boy’ for more than an hour before the object finally landed – with no sign of a child inside. Soon, it was revealed that the boy had been safe all along, hiding in the family’s attic. Further revelations made it clear that it was the news media that had been launched on a wild ride, falling for what was apparently a cynical publicity stunt orchestrated by Heene.

Constructed entirely of archival footage, the short documentary Balloon Boy tracks the news story via the breathless hours of coverage news channels across the world gave to the peculiar spectacle, both during the flight and long after the balloon had landed. Directed by the US filmmakers Arlin Golden and Brian Gersten, and produced by the US filmmaker Nathan Truesdell, who is known for tragicomic archival documentaries tackling institutional dysfunction, the work forms a withering criticism of profit-driven news media. And, in the process of gawking at the surreal spectacle all over again, viewers may even find themselves a tad implicated in the systems of ‘news coverage’ that are rewarded for entertaining rather than informing.