What does this mean? An account in today's Globe on Governor Mitt Romney's appearance at the filthy PG&E power plant in Salem includes this odd sentence:

''If the choice is between dirty power plants or protecting the health of the people of Massachusetts, there is no choice in my mind. I will always come down on the side of public health,'' Romney said to an audience that, according to several accounts, tried to overpower him with jeers.

"According to several accounts"? That suggests the reporter, David Arnold, was not actually there. Elsewhere, though, Arnold forthrightly asserts that "several dozen plant workers tried to shout him down" and that plant opponent Lori Ehrlich "was halfway through her remarks when opponents drowned her out."

So which was it? Not a major matter, but I'd say a clarification is in order.

The Herald left no doubt that at least one of its reporters was on the scene, although the Salem confrontation is awkwardly folded in to an account of the previous day's near-wrestling match between Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom and North Adams mayor John Barrett.

At the time of this posting, the Salem News has not yet posted its account online, but it should be there by this afternoon.