Stephen John Gibbs,34,faces a charge of assault after an argument with a journalist from a rival newspaper in Surry Hills in July last year.
Gibbs has pleaded not guilty to assaulting Steven Jackson,a sub-editor at News Limited paper The Daily Telegraph,outside a pub in Elizabeth Street at 5.15am (AEST) on July 22.
In Downing Centre local court on Monday,police prosecutor Matthew Breeze withdrew a second charge of possessing a prohibited weapon.
The hearing continues.