Heather Ann Thompson

I think the New York Post certainly wins that race.

But pretty soon, everyone is knee-deep in it.

And the mainstream media is so interesting here because

It is also interested in readership, and it is also interested in what is the story that resonates with people.

What is the story that feels right?

And I'll give you an example of this.

When this very first happens, the boys not surprisingly have screwdrivers.

Two of them have screwdrivers in their pockets.

They are zipped up.

They were never displayed.

No one ever said they were, including Goetz.

No one knew about them, but they had them.

Exactly.

That's how they would jimmy open the coin receptacles on these arcade machines.

So they were in their pockets.

That fact, the existence of these tools in their pocket, will be initially reported by

as they just have screwdrivers in their pocket is one of the many facts that were reported.

You know, and even that was, you know, a little bit of a, you know, wink and nod, but nevertheless, they are just the screwdrivers.

Very quickly, they become, according to the more conservative and salacious tabloid media, they were sharpened screwdrivers.

And that story that they were sharpened screwdrivers, which was simply not the case—