In most cases, should one wonder why news bulletins are so full of violence and crime, the answer is simple – the audience is to blame. As the saying goes, "if it bleeds, it leads" and it definitely "reads".

Driven by cultural traits and material profits, media tend to either exaggerate violence in society by "promoting" such events through more extensive coverage, thus offering crime that sickening sense of glamour in the process. If not exaggerating it necessarily per se, media outlets are still more than willing to exploit it, rattle it, stir it, turn it all inside out.

Violence and crime, scandals and adultery are frowned on but happily told and retold while the sources may be sometimes dubious and little effort is invested in actually attributing the authenticity of the source itself. How many will openly criticise football hooliganism but feel helplessly drawn to the television screen or newspaper every time a football riot is reported?

Good news does not generate the shock and thus the interest. Take the latest saga with Dimitar Berbatov and his alleged mafia ordeal.

The player’s agent, Emil Danchev, tried to quickly dispel the rumours, denying any truth to the claims that surfaced in English media on December 1.

There is always the suspicion that Berbatov’s family could indeed have been targeted and Danchev is trying to divert attention for security purposes. If there was such a threat, then it is a matter for the authorities to deal with.

What is strange in this case is how the news spread like wildfire across the world. Danchev said that the original report, which he described as "utter nonsense with no bearing to reality", came from Bulgarian tabloid Show.

Four days after the gossip rag published its story, it made headline news in England. Quite how the British yellow press got hold of it is a mystery, though certainly not a fascinating one.

Berbatov did endure a kidnapping at the age of 18, when the boss of a rival football club had three henchmen snatch him after a training session. Georgi Iliev, alleged to have been one of Bulgaria’s biggest mafia bosses prior to his death, had tried to "persuade" Berbatov to sign for lower-division club Levski Kyustendil. "It was a horrific ordeal but a long time ago now," Berbatov was quoted as saying by English media regarding the incident.

On December 1, tabloids reported that Bulgarian mafia threatened to kidnap Manchester United ace’s wife Elena and newborn baby daughter Dea unless they were paid 500 000 pounds sterling.

Allegedly, the United forward was so concerned about his family’s safety that "he fled his country immediately with his family after striking a deal with the gang," the Daily Mirror said. Better yet, "Old Trafford boss Sir Alex Ferguson is believed to have sanctioned a private charter jet to fly them back to England".

To date, there has been no official confirmation by the authorities whether any of the events had ever occurred, only the denial from Danchev, who said it was all a lie. If it was indeed all a lie, we can also rest assured that those responsible for spreading the rumours – which have no doubt caused alarm, concern and even anger amongst the Berbatov family – will not be held accountable. It is also fair to assume that such events will continue to receive vast coverage in certain media, because such is their nature and, unfortunately, such is the interest of the public.