In "Tormented early life of a troubled superstar" featured in The Mercury on the 5th of January 2003, The article reports on they "hype" currently surrounding Michael Jackson and his background. The journalist Schlink focuses on the torment Jackson received from his father in relation to his appearance throughout childhood and adolescence. The article also talks about Jackson's views and relationships with children. This makes the reader interested and makes them start to wonder, is there more to Michael Jackson than I initially thought?.
This article immediately attracts the reader's attention because of its many pictures and large interesting and bold headline. The headline stands out so much because of the strong wording used "tormented, troubled, superstar". These words immediately catch your eye and make you think; what are they talking about? This encourages the reader to keep going. The photographs show Jackson dangling his own son over a balcony and out in public with both his children's faces covered. These two pictures in particular grab the reader's attention because they are horrifying.
This article is a lot less demeaning to Jackson than many others. The tone of the piece is critical and sharp, however not necessarily nasty. This article has a lot of quotes from Jackson himself as apposed to just fictitious rumors. Therefore it provides a more realistic view of Jackson. It lists the following about him; He claims to have had only had two bouts of plastic surgery, he also says " If there were no children in the world I"d jump off a building" and that there is nothing wrong with sharing his bed with children "it's a beautiful thing" he said.
There has been recent speculation about Jackson sharing his bedroom with 3-year-old cancer sufferer Gavin. Michael and Gavin both agreed openly in a documentary that they sleep in Michael's room together. The fact that Jackson doesn't understand that it is wrong is very worrying.