Roth’s letter to readers: Decide for yourselves

To the editor:

Joseph Pulitzer uttered three words that occupy an even more exalted place in the ideals of the working journalist than the poetry of his Platform:

“Accuracy, accuracy, accuracy,” he said.

The prize that bears Mr. Pulitzer’s name embeds in its rules another pre-eminent value of professional journalism: fairness.

The Post-Dispatch has fallen woefully short of these standards. Its editors approved publication of reports that are grossly unfair, that are full of errors and that fundamentally misrepresent the system of criminal suspect identification in St. Louis.

They mishandled a story that, when responsibly told, is serious and important. They perpetuate their mistakes in their letter of complaint to the Gateway Journalism Review.

No amount of senior editor indignation or grave intonation alters this reality.

But don’t take my word for it – or theirs.

Reread the Post-Dispatch stories. Read the factual record I assembled and the critiques I prepared. Then reread the GJR stories and Messrs. Bailon’s and Goodman’s letter.

Decide for yourself.

Messrs. Bailon and Goodman are correct about one thing: My Facebook postings are not available to everyone. To gain access and post comments, you must be one of Facebook’s more than 1 billion users.

Read the postings here:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/eddie-roth/p-ds-one-sided-view-of-one-sidedness/10152627262553858

Eddie Roth

St. Louis, Missouri