It’s an iron law: News that can be molded to generate outrage attracts massive attention, but when those stories turn out to be unfounded, few people notice or care.

During the emotionally charged and politically divisive summer of 2020, the Post-Gazette itself became the target of just such an outrage. This week, though with many fewer eyes watching, that story has also unraveled.

The events in question involved reporter Alexis Johnson, a Black woman who filed suit alleging racial discrimination after her pitches to cover racial justice protests were denied by her editors, who felt that a post she had made on social media had compromised her objectivity with the Post-Gazette’s readers.

Last month, Ms. Johnson withdrew that lawsuit after her legal team admitted that hundreds of text messages material to the case had been deleted.

On Monday, both parties to the suit, as well as to a related suit involving the Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations, agreed not to pursue claims against any other party, bringing this incident to a definitive close.

The resolution of the case supports the Post-Gazette’s principles of fairness and objectivity, and the responsibility of the newspaper’s leadership for maintaining those principles. Not every decision will be agreeable to every reader or to every member of the newsroom, but making those hard decisions is part of being a serious, dependable newspaper.

It is no secret that 2020 was a tumultuous time for this country, this city and this newspaper. Nobody, least of all this board, desires to reopen that chapter in history.

The Post-Gazette’s successful defense in this regrettable suit allows it to look forward to serving this region for generations to come as it has for so many generations past, with hard work and a hard-won reputation for fairness, toughness and integrity.

First Published: April 7, 2022, 5:33 a.m.