Merry Christmas, Media! FBI Releases Michael Jackson Files
Remember when pop icon Michael Jackson died last summer and the media mourned, but also breathed a collective, week-long sigh of relief, because the news cycle was not only decided, but popular? As dark as it sounds, that was sort of like Christmas in June (and into July) for the media, and today, as the FBI releases 333 pages of reports on the late M.J., is like Christmas on December 22nd.
What kind of business did the Federal Bureau of Investigations with the King of Pop? Well his legal troubles, including the infamous child molestation investigations, were no secret to the press, but in addition, the seven files released today include information about a 1992 extortion plot and a 1997 child pornography investigation, plus the five files on various child molestation investigations from 1993, 2004 and 2005. But as insidious as the nature of these reports, Jackson is actually in good musician company, as John Lennon’s FBI file has long been a source of rumor-mongering for obsessive fans and government critics.
As the holiday approaches, and the news cycle slows, expect quite a few content hungry blogs and television networks who aren’t afraid to dig deep into some primary documents reporting on the minutae of this salacious paperwork. And here you thought Jackson was a gold mine gutted! Gawker has already announced its intentions with the file, in addition to crowdsourcing the perusing: “But if you want to take a look as well, please let us know what you find.”
The documents, all available as PDF files thanks to the Freedom of Information Privacy Act, can be seen below, if you’re into this sort of thing:
9A-LA-142276: 1992 to 1993, 196 pages
62D-LA-162715: September 16, 1993 to August 8, 1994, 56 pages
62D-L0-11779: September 2, 1993 to October 22, 1993, 9 pages
95A-HQ-1148159: October 30, 1995 to January 24, 1997, 8 pages
62D-LA-236081: January 15, 2004 to April 27, 2004, 41 pages
305B-LA-239204: September 14, 2004 to December 9, 2004, 5 pages
252B-IR-6808: March 1, 2004 to June 29, 2005, 18 pages
Michael Joseph Jackson [FBI]
(h/t Breaking News)
