Really? It's all over the press. I didn't happen to notice the balloon floating in the sky. We don't all have one collective eye. The press and politicians platformed the story.
The government makes statements to the press, leaks to the press and when politicians throw barbs at each other over an issue, the press reports their statements about the issue and the issue.
My point is, even if you didn't personally see the balloon, some people did, and so it was reported in the press (as is their job). The government didn't have any control over that, but once it happened, they had to address it.
