Linda Herrick: Only in America

Whatever view of the Michael Jackson saga you may have, if any, there is one man who must be sending thanks to the Lord every night that the child molestation charges against the singer have been brought to trial. That is former burger-tosser Edward Moss, who won $200 in a Michael Jackson look-alike contest in 1996 and has earned a living ever since, impersonating the Gloved One.

For the past decade, Moss has aped Jackson, appearing in music videos, movies such as Scary Movie 3, and the TV series Nip/Tuck - where he played an impersonator pleading for more surgery to mirror the collapse of the star's nostrils.

A living, but hardly a secure one. But now Moss has a regular gig for as long as the Santa Maria trial lasts, playing Jackson in court in daily reconstructions produced by E! and BSkyB.

So far, he hasn't had much to do except have a close shave, whiten his skin, don the wig and the Jackson uniform, including the golden star brooch, which it turns out, is the Golden Medal of Honour for Services to Vienna. Like so many things to do with Jackson, that cannot be explained.

E! chief executive Ted Harbert describes Moss' work as an acting job and the daily reports as journalism.

But because Jackson may never take the stand, all Moss can do is imitate body language and facial gestures which, from what has been presented so far, is little more than an intent hunch while listening to witnesses. Still, it should heat up soon, and then Moss can shake his head, frown, whisper and look perturbed. Any rumours of a moondance in court are unlikely to be realised.

The rest of the cast is just as strange, hauled out of their C-list slumber to play the judge and attorneys. Judge Rodney Melville's shoes are filled by Jack Donner, once Tal, the Romulan sub-commander on the first Star Trek series.

Jackson's attorney, Thomas Mesereau, is played by Rigg Kennedy, whose most recent role was in a movie called Swarm of the Snakehead. Thomas Sneddon, the prosecution DA going so doggedly for Jackson, is actor Charles Haigh, who was the soothsaying Aristander in Oliver Stone's disastrous Alexander.

And, as they are needed, other actors are brought in to play various witnesses. Last weekend, it was the turn of a Hispanic girl to play the sister of the boy who, it is alleged, received the unwelcome attentions of the singer.

This girl, reading from an autocue, related feelings of being scared, things being weird, and lots of I don't knows while a panel of Court TV people assessed her credibility, as if she was the real witness. They even accused her of being rehearsed, whereas she - the actor - really needed more of that.

So, is this journalism? Sky News' associate producer Simon Bucks seems to think so. "I regard this as a piece of journalism," he told Britain's Daily Telegraph. "What we're trying to do is give people a little more insight into what is said in court."

Using court transcripts and feedback from correspondents who have been in court each day, the producers of The Michael Jackson Trial claim they are being faithful to reality, but what we see is not reality. It's a manipulative performance.

It is hard enough to take Jackson seriously. No matter the outcome of the trial, he is a fallen figure. That he can now watch his own imitator in court each day is taking crime as entertainment to a surreal level. It may be strange, it may be fascinating - but it's not journalism.