A former Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter is dropping a discrimination lawsuit against the paper.
Alexis Johnson said she was barred from covering Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. She filed a federal civil lawsuit that year alleging that the Post-Gazette violated the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1964 for “retaliating against someone whoopposes or protests race discrimination.”
In May 2020, Johnson, who is Black, tweeted photos of the aftermath of a Kenny Chesney concert in Pittsburgh, satirically comparing them to protests in honor of George Floyd.
Horrifying scenes and aftermath from selfish LOOTERS who don’t care about this city!!!!!
— Alexis Johnson (@alexisjreports) May 31, 2020
.... oh wait sorry. No, these are pictures from a Kenny Chesney concert tailgate. Whoops. pic.twitter.com/lKRNrBsltU
Post-Gazette management then told Johnson that her tweet showed bias, violating the company’s social media policy, and she would not be allowed to cover future protests.
At the time, the newspaper union said the paper had no official social media policy.
Johnson requested to drop her lawsuit in March 2022. U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan signed an order to formally dismiss the case on Tuesday.
The Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations also dropped its investigation into allegations of racial bias in the case.
Bob Corn-Revere, a lawyer for the Post-Gazette, maintained that the case was an “exercise of editorial judgment based on journalistic ethics” and “had nothing to do with discrimination.”
In an emailed statement he said, “We are gratified that both Alexis Johnson’s civil suit and the PCHR investigation were terminated with prejudice. It had become increasingly clear through discovery that allegations of discrimination by the Post-Gazette lacked any merit, and should have been dismissed long ago.”
Samuel Cordes, an attorney for Johnson, pushed back against those claims. Because the lawsuit was dropped, a jury will not consider the merits of the case.
“This was not a decision on the merits,” he said. “We decided to discontinue the case because the cost became prohibitive, and there’s been no decision on the merits.”
Cordes believes there is “plenty of testimony under oath by the Post-Gazette’s own managers” that discrimination took place. He said Johnson chose to drop the case because moving forward would be too expensive.
“It’s been almost two years and there was a decision that needed to be made about how much more money do you want to spend, and so she just said, ‘We’ll move on,’” Cordes said.
Johnson is now a reporter with Vice News.
