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Writing about how speculation after JonBenet's murder modified mainstream media reporting into sensational gossip about non-events for the voyeuristic audience, Waco Tribune-Herald writer John Young delivered a (delightfully cynical) spot-on Op Ed--

Too much information: Rage against the cable news machine.
By John Young

"WACO, Texas — Upon hearing of Michael Jackson’s death, two pained sensations struck me:

The first was sadness over creative brilliance being snuffed. The second was the knowledge that our celebrity construction/deconstruction machine was about to perform up to its usual, um, standards... Most of what passes as “news” is speculation....

This trend gained traction back in the sensational case of murdered child beauty queen Jon Benet Ramsey. The “coverage” of her case lasted just about as long as has U.S. occupation of Iraq, with barely any more light shown on motives and perpetrators.

Most of the news coming out about poor Jon Benet’s death wasn’t news at all. It was speculation, a direct kin to expectoration. In most cases, it wasn’t even well-informed speculation, the little girl’s harried parents becoming the focus of a nation of voyeurs. News “consultants” became career rumor mongers relative to her fate. One little girl’s death, one industry of info clutter...Not a word greeting our waiting ears altered her fate or helped catch her killer, whoever that is...

Tell us something we don’t know. That would be news."