Another scenario of one being guilty until proven innocent...

I was very tempted to write about the Michael Vick Miami airport debacle last week, but with a lack of evidence at my disposal, decided not to get into it. That didn't stop the majority of the press to do so, though. Even though no charges had been filed, Vick had not been arrested, and no concrete evidence had been passed that he did indeed possess marijuana, people in the media made it seem like it was a 100% concrete fact that Vick was charged, arrested, and that he did indeed have marijuana in his possession.

Well, it was made known today that the lab results came back and wait, what's this I hear? No detection of marijuana. Vick has been cleared and the investigation has come to a close. Gosh, I'm sure many in the media are flustered, because with the closing of the investigation with no charges being filed against Vick, the bashing of his guilt in the case will have to come to a close also.

This is why I do not envy celebrities. Kobe Bryant's case ended in a dismissal, yet, even bums on the street knew about it. A child's first words may have been, "Have you heard anything new about the Kobe Bryant case?" Who can ever forget about O.J.? If that was some average Joe, we would never have seen that chase on television nor seen the trial nor been updated about it every few minutes in a given day. While many believe the man did it, he was ruled to be not guilty.

If a person is caught in live action of doing something illegal, that's one thing. If Vick was caught while smoking a bong, Kobe was caught raping the woman, or O.J. was caught murdering his wife, one can mark that as guilt through and through. But, this is not what happened. So, why do some immediately judge these men and others as guilty before any evidence (or lack there of) streams through?

I think a major problem with today's media is the simple fact that too much is asked of them. There are "news" stations that run for 24 hours in a given day. How is one to fill up that allotted time with nothing but reports, studies, and factual information? It's not going to happen. So, we end up having to fill in that time with opinions, rumors, gossip, hypothetical scenarios, arguments, etc. Many times, it can be like listening to the same radio station in a given day. Yeah, the first hour or so may be filled with plenty of music, not many commercials, and no repeats, but if you listen to it for a whole day, there are going to be plenty of repeats, a great deal of commercials, and will lose its overall appeal. It's news and fact that Vick's water bottle got taken from him and sent to a lab. It's news and fact that a woman charged Kobe with rape. It's news and fact that O.J. was charged with murder. But, that's where the news and facts come to an end, until the final verdicts are known. Unfortunately, with the popularity that Faux "News" has brought to cable television with their obsession of slanted opinions posing as news, other stations have attempted to follow suit.