In our constant desire to avoid giving you fake news, we check out what people tell us and we research what people write to us and reporters are out there confirming facts.
Sometimes, someone appears trustworthy and a police investigation makes it appear a legitimate story.
And so it was with an eleven year old girl in Toronto, who claimed she was on the way to school, when a man with scissors showed up and started cutting her hijab.
The girl’s mother was on TV tearfully speaking about this attack, understandably upset.
Politicians immediately made statements condemning this incident.
And then, the police investigation showed it never even happened.
What they thought was a hate crime had some other explanation.
Since so many people were engaged emotionally in this story, don’t you think police should tell us how that hijab really got cut?
I feel sorry for this girl facing her classmates, but I think an explanation is in order.
Do you agree, or would you prefer we just forget about it?
Let me know what you think.
Bob Layton is the news manager of the Corus Edmonton group of radio stations and a commentator for Global News.