Robert Britt   

                          Author, Columnist

National News

When does a story become national news? How much are we steered by the media when it comes down to what we are concerned about? Are people given their fifteen minutes of fame for some reason when their story really isn't that impacting or interesting and what about all the stories that are bypassed to give us someone else's idea of what is interesting or 'newsworthy'?

This morning on CNN there was a story of group of boy scouts who were lost in the wilderness of North Carolina. I had been out of touch with news for a few days while on a short vacation, so I was interested in catching up on things. I was immediately thinking about the dire situation the scouts might be in. How many days were they overdue? Will they suffer hypothermia from the arctic-like temperatures in the Carolina's? Is there a forest fire in the area threatening them? Is one of the scouts diabetic and likely to suffer because he is missing his medicine?

The answers were mostly insignificant. They were one night overdue, and had plenty of experience and extra food and water. They were very familiar with the area and soon were "found" walking down a country road on their way to safety. One of the scoutmaster's sister was interviewed and said she wasn't even concerned about them. She said maybe if they were 24 hours overdue, she might have had some slight concern, but they were all experienced scouts.

So, who decided this was national news? Who sent out the search and rescue squads and amazingly enough they were found by someone checking electrical lines, not the professional searchers.

I would imagine even the scouts are/were surpised to find they were being 'searched' and were on national TV. The large looming question is: Will there be a movie of their harrowing experience in the balmy forests of North Carolina? Will Brad Pitt play the scout leader and Angelina could be the electric company meter reader who saves them?

"We are so lucky you found us. We were almost out of marshmellows for our s'mores."

"Oh, Brad, I always carry a bag of marshmellows with me, just in case an emergency like this comes up. Do any of the boys need to be adopted? I have the paperwork in the back of my utility truck."

A quote from the assistant scout master (I couldn't have made this up) said they "hunkered down" and that's how they survived. They got an early start Monday as they struggled back to civilization, starting out at 7:30 AM, folllowing power lines until they got back to an area that had cell phone reception.

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