Saying that the child molestation charges against him were based on "a big lie," pop star Michael Jackson has set up a Web site to communicate directly with fans about the criminal charges he faces.

"As you know, the charges recently directed at me are terribly serious," Jackson wrote in an undated letter on the Web site. "They are, however, predicated on a big lie. This will be shown in court, and we will be able to put this horrible time behind us."

Jackson, who surrendered to police last week in Santa Barbara, California to face accusations of child molestation, said that he would not "provide running commentary" on his case via the Web site. (http://www.mjnews.us). He was released on $3 million bail.

But he also said that some of those who were publicly speaking on his behalf were not authorized to do so.

"You are right to be skeptical of some of the individuals who are being identified in the mass media as my friends, spokespeople and attorneys," Jackson wrote. "With few exceptions, most of them are simply filling a desperate void in our culture that equates visibility with insight."

Jackson, who has been in seclusion since the blaze of news coverage that focused on his arrest, said: "We intend to try our case in the courtroom, not in the public or the media."

Under California law, the molestation charge carries a penalty of three to eight years in prison.

It is the second time in 10 years that such allegations have been made about the self-proclaimed "King of Pop," who was a child star with the Jackson 5 during the 1960s and made one of the best-selling albums of all time, 1982's "Thriller."

In 1994, Jackson settled a civil suit filed by the family of a boy who claimed Jackson had sexually molested him. Charges were not brought in that case because the boy refused to testify.

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