Tonight both major news bulletins ran a story on Chinese lanterns sparking a “flood” and “spate” of phone calls to the police by people mistaking these for boat flares. Indeed, it was the lead story on ONE News, and the second item on 3 News.
The item was triggered by a police release issued earlier today which asked for the media to advise the public of the difference between distress flares and Chinese lanterns.
ONE News expanded the story to also focus on the long list of dangers from lighting lanterns – even included reading out warnings that they should not be lit while drunk or under the influence of drugs. Yes, really.
The actual total number of phone calls, summised from the slightly contradictory police quotes, are estimated to be between 9 and 15 over a three day period.
Putting this into context, there’s an average of 7,400 calls to 111 each day in New Zealand. Of these, about 4,700 are false alarms. An additional 3-5 calls on a given day is hardly a “flood”.
While it is generally slow news over the summer, public service announcements do not need to be dressed up as something else and are certainly not the most compelling news item of the day. ONE News included another public service announcement on a diving flag awareness campaign as their fifth item. Meanwhile, the tragic suicide bombing which killed 30 in Pakistan was relegated to twenty minutes into ONE News’ bulletin.
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