The boy in the balloon or, as it were, the boy not in the balloon, is a publicity stunt which has many people outraged, questioning the sanity of the boy’s father, the intelligence of the media, and the values of a media-driven culture. But other than the lower-than-usual trick of using a child’s welfare to get attention, and the better-than-usual trick of staging a runaway balloon, why is this publicity stunt different from all the others that now fill the Newser grid? You don’t really think Al Sharpton, for instance, is going to sue Rush Limbaugh for damaging his reputation in remarks he made blaming Sharpton for the failure of his bid to buy the Rams? We all know he is going to jump up and down and say he’ll sue so as to get some ink. And then there’s Rush’s bid for the Rams—which was, undoubtedly as much about the press he’d get as it was about the good seats. Or there's Sarah Palin's latest press-seeking move, which has her joining LinkedIn and listing herself as looking for work. Or the administration’s fight with Fox, and Fox’s offense at the administration—each gets valuable airtime out of this. All of these instances of studied conflict represent a series of calculations about what it takes to get the media to react. CONTINUE READING at Newser.com »

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