- (AFP) -- Suicide bombings in Turkey and President George
W. Bush's visit to Britain were swept off US airwaves by a tidal wave of
coverage of Michael Jackson's arrest on child abuse charges.
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- American television ran frenzied wall-to-wall coverage
of the pop superstar's dramatic surrender to police in California after
he flew in from Las Vegas to face justice over accusations that he molested
a young boy.
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- In Santa Barbara, near Jackson's Neverland Ranch, a horde
of between 200 and 300 journalists from around the world besieged the airport
to greet his private jet and the sheriff's department where he was to be
booked.
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- There were even reports of a local cameraman collapsing
and later dying during press crush as the "Gloved One's" lawyer
Mark Geragos dismissed the charges as a big lie."
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- Screaming fans joined detractors of one of the planet's
best-known entertainers in the scrum that had both police and Jackson's
entourage on the defensive, as hours of live pictures of the scenes were
beamed across the world.
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- "(It) was already pretty busy but it is getting
worse by the minute," an exasperated policeman said as the sheriff's
department was sealed off as Jackson was driven there from the airport.
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- In the near hysteria leading up to Jackson's arrival
at tiny Goleta airport, TV stations broadcast hours of live pictures of
aircraft that could be carrying the star -- but ultimately were not --
taxiing on the tarmac.
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- One station broadcast nearly two hours of live pictures
of executive jets coming and going from the airport late Tuesday, nearly
19 hours before he actually showed up.
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- Commentators on some stations filled the airwaves with
commentary on speculative reports of the star's possible whereabouts, and
then apologised when it emerged that the information was incorrect.
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- As America held its breath watching the air traffic activity,
several wealthy commuters must have been dumbfounded to find hundreds of
long lenses and circling helicopter-mounted TV cameras trained on their
jets.
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- When his Gulfstream IV jet finally did arrive at midday
on Wednesday, it taxied half-way into an open hangar to allow its famous
passenger to alight and surrender to waiting police in the privacy of darkness.
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- "We are seeing a jet and the door is now open people,
possibly including a woman who might be crew, have emerged," one breathless
broadcaster said in a desperate bid to describe the grainy pictures.
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- The battle for ratings continued as a swarm of helicopters
hovered relentlessly above "Jacko's" four-car convoy on the 14-kilometer
(nine-mile) trip into town describing each turn and driving manouevre in
minute detail.
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- Then -- finally there was pay-off from the long, and
expensive, televised wait when the "King of Pop" finally stepped
out of an unmarked police car with his hands visibly cuffed behind his
famous back.
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- While the moment was clearly captured by the helicopters
above the Santa Barbara jail, many of the hundreds of photographers and
reporters thronging outside the compound surrounded by razor wire-topped
fences missed the moment. Some were unaware he had even entered the building
for minutes.
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- But some fans did catch a glimpse of him leaving after
being booked and screamed messages of support at their musical idol, who
replied by raising two fingers in a peace salute.
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- "I think he is the coolest," gushed Meg Foster,
20-year-old student at University of California in Santa Barbara.
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- Fan Sarah Caron said: "I don't want to make judgements
about him until there is proof that he's done something, until there's
a fair case against him in court."
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- Others were far less kind even as the television cameras
followed Jackson back to Las Vegas and stalked his motorcade in traffic.
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- Edward Blomfield, there with his 10-year-old son was
not impressed with the allegations against the singer, whose record-selling
"Thriller" and "Dangerous" albums he has at home.
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- "I think he should join (fugitive film director)
Roman Polanski in France. This doesn't look too good."
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- "I think he should have been listed as a child molester
a long time ago and put away a long time ago," said fuming Kim Warren
of Irvine, near Los Angeles.
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- "I think that the fact that he was a celebrity kept
that from happening last time he was accused."
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