Is Michael Jackson bribing the media for good press

I noticed some on TV are going out of their way to defend Jackson.

I also notice Matt Drudge is going overbroad to defend Jackson on his website.

And it keeps headlines off the front page like gas going up $.24 a gallon within a day or so, * finds an excuse to attack Syria and chooses a deadline, Social Security "reform", illegal torture and detention, etc.

whether they're defending the alleged perp or attacking him-- they didn't have any problem condemning OJ before trial.

Maybe they perceive an angle where Jackson's obvious weirdness makes him seem vulnerable and worthy of sympathy. In this script, Jackson will eventually submit to a comprehensive tell-all interview by some Barbara Walters-scale sob sister, which will get humongous ratings. I don't think Jackson plans on following that script, however, which will leave the media feeling cheated, and then they'll turn on him.

Or, alternatively, all organs of the media are linked, and the "news" portions are trying to drum up popular support for Jackson to boost sales for the CD and DVD vendors, overlooking the unfortunate fact that Jackson hasn't made a good record in 20 years.

They can't report on the plummeting dollar, the sales of our telecommunication industry to China, the vanishing American industry and farms, the lack of border control, the rise in unemployment rates, the rise of gas prices, the lack of ENRON executives prosecution, falling middle class incomes and the growing poor. No, that might require some research. You know, they would have to compare this year to five years ago. So much easier to report on a freakish man who hates himself so much, his plastic surgeon almost did away with his nose.