Demagogue

Am I the only one annoyed at seeing a newspaper with the Washington Post's reputation routinely running its stories about the Michael Jackson trial within its Style section?

If they're reviewing a Michael Jackson recording or a Michael Jackson concert appearance, fine -- put it in Style, but there's something wrong with placing an article on a criminal trial on the very same page of the Style section as another article headlined:

North Carolinian Crowned Miss USA

A criminal trial involving Michael Jackson was sure to bring the gossip and "entertainment" columnists out in droves. But by deciding to run news about a criminal trial in its Style section, it seems to me that The Post shares a small part of the guilt for turning a judicial proceeding into a gossip-laden spectacle.

By the way, equally annoying is Sky News' practice of using actors to broadcast nightly "recreations" of the Michael Jackson trial. This cheapens the importance of the trial itself and risks giving viewers the false impression that they are in as good a position as the actual jurors to judge the quality or credibility of testimony.