I believe that the American media today seems to be trying to get as close to \"yellow journalism\" or \"muckraking\" as possible without actually crossing that line. Interpretation of the freedom of speach and freedom of the press has gotten pretty broad. We have a few news stations here that will give the known facts of an incident, and then instead of moving on to the next story, the speculate on the possibilities and probibilities of what else could be happening with that one issue. Far from reporting simply the facts, I believe. I agree with Eric in that there is no perfect way to solve this. In the instance of protecting your children from sexual predators, there are steps that parents can take. First of all, if you contact your local state police department they will give you a listing of all the sex offenders in your zipcode. They will provide you with names, physical descriptions, date of birth, and address. They will also indicate whether the person is considered predatorial or not. If the individual is on probation, they will provide you with not the address, but the phone number for their parole officer. I requested this information when I was looking for a pre-school for our daughter, so that I would know if there was somebody in the neighborhood that I should be concerned about. In our state there is a law about how near a sex offender can live to a daycare or school, but it never hurts to check. I request this information once a year, so that I can also know if there is somebody living near places I freqent with our daughter. A parents best defence is an open line of communication with their children and to keep informed of their children\'s whereabouts, activities, and who they are with.
