"Several of these articles were published previously, including my Forbes piece, “What You Should Know About the New Michael Jackson Documentary,” which was read by more than five million people and publicly praised by figures like Spike Lee and Questlove. But that article also taught me something unsettling about the current media climate. After Leaving Neverland premiered at Sundance, the press moved almost instantly into lockstep. The narrative was treated as morally settled before most people had even examined the record. To ask questions, to provide context, to note inconsistencies, to point out what was missing—these were not treated as legitimate journalistic acts. They were treated as signs of bad character... "The lesson was obvious: in the digital outrage economy, dissent from the dominant narrative is often treated not as disagreement but as complicity. And yet I still believe what I believed then: context matters. The presumption of innocence matters. Proportion matters. Evidence matters. American history, especially where race is concerned, should have taught us to be wary of public frenzies and moral certainty. Black men in particular have long been demonized through accusation, projection, and stigma. That history does not prove Jackson innocent. But it does mean that any fair-minded examination of his case must proceed with care, rigor, and humility rather than appetite, certainty, and clickbait." -From MISUNDERSTOOD by Joseph Vogel