There are always two sides to every story. However, when the press reports on an issue, it is sometimes tempting to to shade things such that a situations appears to be one way, when it's actually something else.
I've seen this in the local headlines for our two major newspapers. One paper will say the story is one thing while the other says the opposite. For example, and these are just made up headlines but I think they portray what I am saying: "Hawaii Schools Near last in Achievement" vs. "Hawaii Schools Highest in Improvement." In this case, each may be accurate. Or not.
But in other cases, the headlines say the opposite of what the story actually is. I've seen this several times in the morning paper where the headline would lead to believe one thing, but their own story says just the opposite. This troubles me because many people don't get past the headline and even if they do, it's the headline they will remember, rather than the story that refutes the headline.
Given these caveats, a news report says a federal judge has has ruled that a teacher who allegedly filed "multiple frivolous" law suits against the school district he worked for must pay the district $270,000 in legal fees. The US District judge found that the teacher
transformed "every injustice, insult, or inconvenience, real or imagined," into a violation of his civil rights.
[The teacher]...alleged discrimination "of virtually every type (sex, race, national origin, age, and disability)"...
I don't know if the story is accurate. It could be. There are in fact people who try to use the legal system as a way to spread injustice. Whether this is one of those occasions, I cannot say. If it is, then perhaps the teacher deserves what he got because he denied justice to others.
But I wish the newspapers would spend a little more time digging into the story to figure out why someone might take things to extreme. Was he, in fact, wronged at some point? Did the school system, in fact, play a part in his behavior? What, in fact, was the other side of the story?
Aloha!
