sydney poore wrote:
I agree that there is more to this issue than sourcing.
From a legal point of view, it is common for the prosecution, victim, and defendant to agree to plea bargain of a lesser charge than rape to keep the victim off the witness stand.
In the case of a plea bargain all we can conclude is that he was convicted of whatever lesser crime was agreed. We can say that he was charged with something more serious, but we cannot presume the motivations that resulted in a lesser conviction.
This makes if more difficult for the media to describe the nature of the actual events, but we need to try. If the proper context can't be described due to space (or whatever) than its better to say nothing.
The media have more investigative resources than we have, and we are not in a position to do the original research that would allow us to say more.
Ec