Kutcher pleads for media honesty amid cheating reports

Ashton Kutcher still hasn't directly addressed tabloid reports that he cheated on wife Demi Moore -- but he's certainly perfecting his ability to tease the public via social media.

The new Two and a Half Men star -- who's been plagued by tabloid stories saying that he cheated with a woman named Sarah Leal in San Diego last month -- seemed to allude to the scuttlebutt about his marriage Wednesday in a rambling video monologue. The video, posted to social media site chime.in, called for more honesty from the digital-age media.

He says the lower cost of publishing has led to a cheapening of values, and that truth is suffering.

I just wanted to open up a little dialogue in the state of honesty, the status of truth as it pertains to literature and media, Kutcher begins.

The actor goes on to note that, in the Internet age, anyone can be a budding media mogul. He says that's not necessarily a good thing.

The threshold to have literature printed and distributed -- the cost structure went down to zero dollars, Kutcher reflects. Thereby, there is no gatekeeper of the truth. We are our own editors, and we are our own publishers. We are our own printers. Thereby people can bastardize the truth in any way, shape or form they want and spread that around the world ... There's that old saying that a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can leave someone's lips.

Kutcher -- who's almost as well-known for his investment in developing technologies as he is for his acting -- wraps up his video by calling for a sense of responsibility.

Though neither Kutcher nor Moore has spoken about the divorce reports, both appear to have alluded to them on Twitter. In late September, Kutcher cryptically tweeted, When you ASSUMME to know that which you know nothing of you make an ASS out of U and ME. Moore, meanwhile, offered her own vague-but-titillating missive, tweeting a picture of herself with her eyes closed and the caption, I see through you….