Said to Be         

“Frustrated drivers stuck in a traffic jam were said to be stuck in a traffic jam.”

Or: “People eating dinner at the kosher deli were said to be eating dinner.”

Or: “Fans at the ball game were said to be watching the ball game.”

Of course they were in a jam, or having dinner, or at a ball game. They weren’t “said to be” doing these things. Yet in a news story by four journalists on page one of the New York Times, we read about the June 1 firebombing of Jews in Boulder, Colorado. We read of an attack “on a group said to be honoring hostages being held in Gaza.”