Journalist and true crime author Aphrodite Jones used to think of Michael Jackson as a child molester, but now she thinks of the King of Pop as a humble and kind soul who had been bashed by the biased media all his life.
The change of opinion came, as Jones conducted a research on the 2005 child molestation trial against the late singer for her book – Michael Jackson Conspiracy which was published in 2007 through which she told the world that she felt guilty of making one-sided reports when she was covering the trial for Fox TV.
In the author’s note of Conspiracy, Jones wrote: “There were twenty-two hundred credentialed media people at the trial, less than a handful of people admitted their deliberate attempts to portray Michael Jackson as guilty.
“If there was a media conspiracy, I was guilty.”
“I realized that I had become one of the media folks who had predetermined the outcome of the trial, wrongly...Certain reporters had slanted TV and radio coverage to suit the prosecution, and I was one the people who followed that dangerous trend...Somehow, I had missed the truth,” she said.
The 50-year-old writer said the media convicted Jackson in the court of public opinion by producing news reports taking the prosecution side and ignoring solid evidence that proved his innocence that led to his exoneration at the end.
The moment of change for Jones came when “Not guilty” - the two words being repeated 14 times, as the verdict of the trial case against Jackson was delivered in a court room in Santa Maria on 13 June 2005.
“Twelve independent people who had nothing to gain whatsoever could
see something that nobody else in the media could see and then I realized it was just one of those moments of realization,” Jones said.
As she read newspapers reports about the verdicts the next day, Jones
recalled: “I felt ashamed to have been part of media machine that seemed hell-bent on destroying Jackson.”
Jones contacted the jury foreman Paul Rodriguez, who believed that Jackson was a target and victimized by the media.
She then contacted Judge Rodney Melville, who handled the case, to write a court order allowing her to review and photograph all evidence and exhibits from the criminal trial which led to the birth of the book.
“But no one wanted it [the book]. No American publisher wanted to touch it. They told me that they would not publish anything pro-Michael Jackson,” Jones said.
As a writer who has some works crowned as the New York Times best sellers and one of her books being turned into a movie, Jones said: “This book, no doubt, is the most arduous work of mine.”
She had to publish the book by self-finance.
The book reveals stories ignored by tabloids and mainstream media and
allows readers to see Jackson as a normal human being who treated his
Neverland Ranch guests with great generosity.
The book sets out the record on how Jackson’s close friends including the Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin, who testified in court, denying any improper conduct on the pop star’s part against him.
Another highlight in the book was to see June Chandler, mother of the boy - Jordan Chandler who accused Jackson of molesting him back in 1993, taking the witness stand.
When testifying at court, the mother said she never suspected relationship between Jackson and her son to be inappropriate.
Though published three years ago, only some Michael Jackson fans read the book back then, it only became a big hit around the world after the pop star’s death on June 24.
New book deals from different parts of the world including China, Taiwan, countries in Europe, Canada and so on kept rolling in and her phones never stopped with reporters requesting for interviews since that day.
Jones’s email boxes, Facebook, twitter accounts are all flooded with messages and emails from fans and people around the world.
Investigation Discovery of the Discovery Channel in March and April aired a 10-hour show on true crime cases devoting one hour to the 2005 trial featuring Jones who set the record straight for Jackson with her views on the case and evidences she obtained from court to present the side of the story that the public had never learnt from mainstream media.
Contrast to the overwhelming reaction about her book now, Jones was only invited to give an interview about Conspiracy on Fox TV by Geraldo Rivera in 2007 and a few more interviews with radios when the book was first launched.
Rivera is a host of Geraldo at Large who firmly belives in Jackson's innocece and once said: "I would have shaved my moustache if he was convicted."
"I have had a lot of media attention on the books I have written because the subjects are controversial and they are true stories. I have always had media attention on every book that I have ever written except for the book on Michael Jackson because it was a book pro-Jackson,” Jones said.
Picture Credits: Aphrodite Jones and The Hot Joints
Chinese versions of Michael Jackson Conpirarcy were available for sale in late 2009 after Jackon passed away. [simplified chinese character version (top) complicated Chinese character version]
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