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As with almost every story that reaches the top of the news headlines list, there is significantly more to them than initially meets the eye. 

Perhaps you are among the majority of folks who follow big human interest stories purely for their entertainment value. But if you're like me, you have grown to be analytically pessimistic about the voracity of all media reportage. "There's something wrong with this picture" has become your TV news-watching mantra.

A case in point is the recent Balloon Boy saga that quickly morphed from live national coverage of a tragedy-in-progress into a mere reality TV hoax. In the aftermath, however, a family was left broken and in need of emotional counseling.  Unnecessary risk and expense incurred by rescuers and law enforcement officers as a result of involvement in that false alarm could jeopardize response times in future interventions.

Tiger Woods' crash, another story for which the picture is obviously still way out of focus, is an example of how an emergency can quickly become a tragedy. Whatever drama was unfolding inside the Woods home in the wee hours of Friday morning, it somehow precipitated the use of Tiger's Escalade.  This resulted in at least some of his injuries which, of course, were reported in the first wave of news bulletins as "serious".

Keeping in mind that Woods has amassed his fortune by suppressing adrenaline's potentially negative influence over his game, look what happened when even a cool cucumber like Tiger Woods undertook to drive an extremely safe vehicle under adrenaline's influence. 

Now imagine the myriad possibilities for injury and death that are inherent in dispatching dozens of less-safe air and land vehicles manned by adrenaline-influenced personnel in response to a Balloon Boy-type 911 false alarm.

It is disturbing that the Secret Service, once the epitome of What's wrong with this picture? protectionism, somehow got caught up in the glamour of the recording of celebrities' activities at what they believed to be a locked-down White House. Perhaps they should be sent to practice their trade at red carpet events like the various academy awards ceremonies and major film debuts.

Regardless of the crashers' award-winning acting and adrenaline-suppression abilities, those guys in the very dark glasses and Brooks Brothers suits were, nonetheless, duped by these reality TV star wannabes.  Just as their civilian counterparts have been taken in by the Balloon Family and the Octomom.

Sadly, Face Book and Twitter have replaced the old-fashioned press to a very great extent.  Even today's mainstream media is filled with quotes and stories that were originally published on the Internet.  Even TV news programs are replete with video footage that was originally posted on YouTube. If only virtual news stories and scripted reality TV shows would usher in the era of virtual politicians and a virtual White House. 

Until that day, however, the Secret Service and the mainstream media need to adopt a simple website strategy -- the typing-in of a password.  Miss it and your out, regardless of how photogenic or how well-dressed you are or your ability to putt under pressure.

Have Secret Service agents and journalists become as jaded as everyone else from students to prominent elected officials?  Is having virtual stuff like YouTube and cell phone photos and videos always at their fingertips somehow preventing them from asking What's wrong with this picture? in the real world?

With people constantly saying that you can't believe anything you see online and on TV, you might think that the opposite would be true.  Like almost everything else, however, there's more to this story than initially meets the eye.