Cynicism comes naturally to members of the tabloid press, who report sensational news in a sensational way and rarely think about what exactly it is they're doing. All they care about is the gory details. However, their coverage of the murder of a 7-year-old boy last month in Akita Prefecture and the subsequent arrest of a suspect has gone beyond cynicism.
Even before the boy's body was found, a large number of reporters set up camp outside the house of a 33-year-old woman who was a neighbor of the boy.
Apparently, they had been tipped off that police were going to interrogate her on the night of May 17 about the boy's disappearance. According to an article in the June 13 Asahi Shimbun, the reporters on hand, who numbered more than 50, already considered this woman the main suspect.