From Steamboat Today:  In the past month, the Steamboat Pilot & Today has won two cases filed in response to attempts by the Routt County District Attorney’s Office to seal documents in the Meghan McKeon case. And while we have achieved favorable rulings in court, it is apparent that when it comes to the court of public opinion, the jury is still out.

#There have been those who have congratulated us on our fight to uphold the First Amendment and the Colorado Open Records Act, but there are others who have questioned why the newspaper felt it was important enough to go to court to obtain copies of McKeon’s arrest affidavit and her son’s autopsy report. In these instances, the readers said they didn’t want to know the disturbing details of Austin Davis’s death, and they interpreted our attempts to obtain the records as an example of tabloid journalism or sensationalism.

The articles about the decision by the DA’s Office to seal documents and the newspaper’s reaction have been factual and fair to all parties involved, and now that both cases have been adjudicated and the autopsy report has been released by judge’s order, I think it’s time for me, as editor, to set the record straight and offer the newspaper’s perspective on why we fight these battles.

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