The Odessa American always strives to publish news that is accurate and objective. And we believe it important that when we miss the mark, we need to take responsibility for that failure.
Such is the case with a news story published Friday on our front page, which reported on a local town hall by U.S. Rep. August Pfluger.
We believe the story contained inflammatory language and mischaracterizations of Pfluger’s remarks. It struck a tone of commentary, not news. It failed to meet our standards of producing news that has been accurately and objectively reported.
And for all those reasons, we are truly sorry and offer our humblest apologies to the congressman and to our readers.
We respect Pfluger. He has always been professional and polite. And he has always given the gift of candor, not only to this newspaper but also to the communities he serves. During his Thursday town hall, the congressman, yet again, was merely trying to inform the people he serves. We are ashamed we did not accurately and objectively share what he had to say with a larger audience.
Rest assured; we have taken appropriate disciplinary action to help ensure this does not happen again. And we pledge to redouble our efforts to live up to our commitment to be the indispensable source or news and information to the communities we serve.
