Dart to the Cleveland Plain Dealer for failing to stick by its story. Last October, investigative reporter Bob Paynter, at the urging of Editor-in-Chief Susan Goldberg, produced “Justice Blinded: Race, Drugs and Our Legal System,” a series of articles that, through rigorous quantitative and qualitative analyses, illustrated that in Ohio’s Cuyahoga County, blacks arrested on first-time, drug-related violations “were 66 percent more likely to be saddled with a felony record than their white counterparts,” who were more likely to get treatment as an alternative to conviction. Paynter’s series also showed that whites were more likely than blacks to have their charges reduced to misdemeanors.

The stories, which were published after a six-month investigation, drew sharp criticism from Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, who alleged that they unfairly pointed a finger at his office for its involvement in deciding which defendants would be admitted into treatment programs. In an op-ed published by the Plain Dealer, Mason wrote that “the reporter left out significant facts or information.” He suggested that his office alone was not to blame for the racial disparity, because, in fact, the decision to recommend alternatives to incarceration rested with judges. This was territory that had been well covered in Paynter’s series; it was a key part of Paynter’s point. It’s true that, by law, oversight rests with the judges. But in practice, Paynter reported, the prosecutor’s office had come to exert significant influence over who would be admitted into treatment programs, according to dozens of interviews with county judges and defense attorneys. Goldberg says Mason was notified of the series’ findings before publication, but Mason chose not to go on record about the perception that his office had influence over the programs.

Before granting Mason space for an op-ed, the paper’s editorial board met with Mason...

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