Speculation: conclusion, opinion, or theory reached by engaging the mouth before the brain

Heath Ledger is dead, apparently found naked on his bed in his apartment and with pills in proximity to his body.

That's what is known; anything else is speculation. However, not to be slowed down by the lack of fact, commentators have spent the hours since the discovery of Ledger's body posing theories about this death -- and then making a point of claiming that they don't want to "speculate" about the cause of his death. When you have no facts, but you speak as if you do, you are "speculating," not reporting, and speculation creates the worst case scenario, rather than giving the benefit of the doubt to the victim of the speculation.

Sure, the actor could have committed suicide, but what if he simply took too many pills because he couldn't sleep? What if he had an allergic reaction to medication? What if something else caused his death, and the pills are coincidental to that cause?

The media doesn't want to wait for the facts, doesn't want NOT to speculate because that wouldn't be a story! These media figures accrue face time at the expense of their victims. and only stop feeding on this event when another comes along to take this one's place.

If nothing is known, then nothing should be reported.

Heath Ledger's family has to endure the public exposure of speculation as if it were fact, and once that bell is rung, there is no undoing it.