Friday, July 03, 2015
Headline asserts one witness’s story of assault on state legislator is fact
by Larry Geller
It was a fantastic experience watching the live feed of the Solar Impulse coming in for a landing close to 6 a.m. this morning. As an engineer, I have a great sense of how far we have come since I studied vacuum tube amplifiers in college.
And then to some breakfast and the newspaper.
Today’s main story, taking up most of the front page, is headlined “Legislator was victim of ‘gang-style attack’.”
I can’t dispute that this could be a fact, but at this point, it is one of now four accounts, and the only one that describes a “gang-style” attack.
So should the newspaper adopt this version as fact? What about Rep. Brower’s own statement, which is also different from the others? He did 
not mention a ‘gang-style attack’ at all. Yet, here you have the headline asserting that this is true. Maybe in the heat of the conflict he did not notice.
I first posted Rep. Brower’s statement in an article uploaded on June 30. You can get a readable copy by clicking on the image to the right.
Each of the four accounts has similarities and differences. How editors came to rely on this one (today), they do not make clear.
Incidental comment: in the S-A front-page picture you can see some of the high-rises that will soon dominate the Kakaako area. Sadly, none of them are for the folks in the tents pictured in the foreground who have been relegated by our economy and social policies to live on the street.
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