Grauer: Kicking another horse
Letter to the editor
The Aspen Times editor’s missive this month about letter-to-the-editor standards deserves a reply from readers about standards for editors.
One of Don Rogers’ basic editorial principles is that any allegations should be based on facts that can be substantiated. On that, he and I see eye to eye.
But he and The Aspen Times publisher, Allison Pattillo, have not met that standard regarding the fallout from the Vladimir Doronin defamation lawsuit.
Pattillo claimed that a letter from valley elected officials charging the Times owners, editors, and publishers with censorship, inaccuracy, and mismanagement was unfounded.
She said, “the letter is based on incomplete and inaccurate accounts of recent events at the Aspen Times”; she said she would clear up any misconceptions or inaccuracies” in the days and weeks to come,” in June 2022.
Another example of Rogers not following his own editorial principles was an October opinion piece on elections. He said he was frustrated with Commissioner Kelly Kury and her “coterie mischaracterizing what happened last spring and early summer at The Times before I began.”
So if Rogers wasn’t at The Times then, he should have backed his allegations up with other evidence and explained what they were “mischaracterizing.”
In the recent missive, he brags (in reference to a commentary submission), “I could match every accusation to actual evidence from a legitimate source.”
It’s time for readers to hold him and Pattillo to those same standards.
Bernie Grauer
Basalt
