Tikkabik

As a member of the media, I'm reluctant to go around media-bashing, but every so often, something I read or see on TV pisses me off, and this is one of those things.

"Neverland Guard Says Boy Couldn't Leave," reads the AP headline recounting recent testimony in the Michael Jackson child molestation case.

The headline alone is sensationalistic, and what's worse, it's not at all consistent with the story.

"Prosecutors called the guard to testify that he once had orders not to let the accuser leave Neverland."

Okay.

Three paragraphs ahead:

"But Barron also acknowledged under defense questioning that a general policy was to keep child guests on the estate if their parents weren't present and that guards probably would not let any children leave if they were unsupervised."

Then later:

"Under cross-examination, defense attorney Robert Sanger asked whether the general policy at the ranch was that children visiting without parents would not be allowed to leave by themselves.

"'We would not let them go off the ranch without supervision,' Barron said.

"Barron acknowledged that if he had seen anything amiss he would have been obligated as a police officer to report it."

So a casual reader who just checks the headline and scans the article lightly is bound to be left with the impression that Neverland Ranch is some sort of Guantanamo Bay-style prison compound where children are allowed to enter but not allowed to leave.

Think I'm overstating the case? I know from countless first-hand experience how low some people's reading comprehension skills are.