"Father Richard Heene is described in press reports as a "retired wetherman" but he's also a well-known conspiracy enthusiast. He believes that recent photos of Mars show the remains of a civilization (including buildings), that mysterious Japanese mafia connections are using Magnetic fields to manipulate weather and that the U.S. government is either responsible for or hiding the truth of the "real story of 9/11.""

http://www.allyourtv.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=531:balloon-boy-story-suckers-tv-news-&catid=78:feat...

'Balloon Boy' Story Fools TV News
by Rick Ellis

I know that it's difficult for a TV news producer to do much research while a breaking story is taking place. You're much too worried about live shots and camera coverage and updating scripts to devote much time to vetting the participants in a news story.

But I find myself a bit perplexed by the overall lack of effort that was expended when it came to researching the story of the so-called "balloon boy," Falcon Heene.

Falcon was the six-year-old boy who was thought to have been a passenger on a homemade weather balloon that went astray on Thursday. Falcon was believed to have climbed into the balloon before it took off and drifted across Colorado, with witnesses claiming he was in a basket or box that fell off the contraption.
The various cable news outlets covered the flight live, breathelessly reporting on the possible fate of the boy. As it turned out, Falcon was in fact hiding in a box inside the family's garage. But despite the weirdness of the story, none of the news reports seemed to show any suspicion that it all might be a hoax.

What fascinated me about the coverage of this tale is that there didn't seem to be much of an attempt to check the credibility of the story, or of Falcon's parents. Other then reports the mother and father had appeared twice on ABC's reality show "Wife Swap," the coverage of the family really focused on the errant balloon and the story of Falcon's disappearance.

It wasn't until the family's appearance on "Larry King Live" Monday evening that some observers began to suspect the entire incident was some sort of hoax. Falcon seemed to say that he was hiding from searchers because of a request from his father and the hopes that it would lead to "a tv show." And when asked about it, both parents seemed to dodge the question. When the family appeared on "The Today Show" and "Good Morning America" Friday morning, they faced questions about the supposed disappearance. But nothing about the father's background or the possibility that it might be the motivation for a hoax.

Father Richard Heene is described in press reports as a "retired wetherman" but he's also a well-known conspiracy enthusiast. He believes that recent photos of Mars show the remains of a civilization (including buildings), that mysterious Japanese mafia connections are using Magnetic fields to manipulate weather and that the U.S. government is either responsible for or hiding the truth of the "real story of 9/11."

A sample of Heene's work can be seen on the web site ThePsyiencedetectives.com, where he, Scott Stevens and Barbra Slusser "investigate and conduct experiments about the mysteries of science and psychic phenomenon."

In several posts Heene has written in recent months, he seems to be convinced that "the truth" is being hidden from Americans by the media and the government. In one comment on YouTube (which appears to have been recently deleted), a poster identifying himself as Heene argued that "(Americans) just need the opportunity to see the truth for themselves."

Now I'm not saying that these issues should have been brought up while the young boy was potentially in danger. But even the slightest investigation of the father would have brought these stories to light. It's the kind of reporting footwork that should have been a lot sooner in the news cycle, and before the family had the opportunity to milk the morning shows for a bit of free publicity.