On SNL last night, Seth Meyers nailed it when he said the "balloon boy" incident was NOT news.

By definition, he is correct, as I was taught in my broadcasting classes in college that real news is something that affects the majority of people.

Of course, if the 24-hour news network cycle believed this to be true, there wouldn't be a 24-hour news network cycle.

Did the ballon boy incident change your life at all? I didn't think so. I doubt it will have any long-lasting effect on the lives of the kid's own family by tomorrow afternoon.

TV newscasts used to be 15 minutes per evening at the network level. You would hear reports about the top events of the day, maybe a little sports and weather, and a possible human interest story on a slow day. I have to wonder that if CNN, MSNBC, FOX and all the rest actually boiled down the events of the day by the old criteria if it would still comprise 15 minutes.

Imagine a news broadcast without one mention of Jon and Kate, Lindsay, Brittany, Kanye, Amy Winehouse, and your choice of the latest stalemate/inaction of the government group of your choice, and see how much time the 'newscast' would need.