{"id":3427,"date":"2015-04-30T19:49:38","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T19:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/twitchy.com\/2014\/10\/25\/forensic-pathologist-charges-reporter-used-inaccurate-and-misleading-quotes-on-michael-brown-autopsy\/"},"modified":"2015-04-30T19:49:38","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T19:49:38","slug":"pathologist-charges-reporter-used-inaccurate-and-misleadingquotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/archives\/3427","title":{"rendered":"Pathologist charges reporter used ‘inaccurate and misleading quotes’"},"content":{"rendered":"http:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/drjudymelinek\/status\/525771302293225472\n

That’s Dr. Judy Melinek, forensic pathologist and author of “Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner,” expressing her thanks to the Daily Kos<\/a>. Why? Melinek was interviewed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on the autopsy of Michael Brown and now disputes how she was quoted, an assertion defended at length by the Daily Kos.<\/p>\n

On her blog<\/a>, Melinek explains:<\/p>\n

A reporter from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called me earlier this week, saying she had Michael Brown’s official autopsy report as prepared by the St. Louis County Medical Examiner, and asking me if I would examine and analyze it from the perspective of a forensic pathologist with no official involvement in the Ferguson, Missouri shooting death. I read the report, and spent half an hour on the phone with the reporter explaining Michael Brown’s autopsy report line-by-line, and I told her not to quote me – but that I would send her quotes she could use in an e mail. The next morning, I found snippets of phrases from our conversation taken out of context in her article in the Post-Dispatch. These inaccurate and misleading quotes were picked up and disseminated by other journals, blogs, and websites.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the Dispatch’s published story<\/a>, reporters Christine Byers and Blythe Bernhard quote Melinek as saying that “If he [Michael Brown] has his hand near the gun when it goes off, he’s going for the officer’s gun.” Melinek disputes making any such conclusion, writing on her blog:<\/p>\n

There’s a big difference between “The hand wound has gunpowder particles on microscopic examination, which suggests that it is a close-range wound. That means that Mr. Brown’s hand would have been close to the barrel of the gun” and “he’s going for the gun.”<\/p>\n

I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to correct this, in my own words last night, when Lawrence O’Donnell invited me to appear as a guest on MSNBC.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are other disputes between the two as well, but St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Blythe Bernhard is standing by what she wrote.<\/p>\n

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My phone interview with @drjudymelinek<\/a> was fully on the record & transcribed. I would not have spoken to her otherwise. Quotes are accurate.<\/p>\n

— Blythe Bernhard (@blythebernhard) October 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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@blythebernhard<\/a> Then why send an e mail with completely different quotes 25 min later? http:\/\/t.co\/eWbETjKS67<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/XRcmep9sxl<\/a><\/p>\n

— Judy Melinek M.D. (@drjudymelinek) October 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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@blythebernhard<\/a> here is a photo of e mail. Note time stamp. pic.twitter.com\/Fa5Vj1D3ts<\/a><\/p>\n

— Judy Melinek M.D. (@drjudymelinek) October 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Bernhard seems to be losing this round with the public.<\/p>\n

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@blythebernhard<\/a> @drjudymelinek<\/a> me thinks the post dispatch protest to much!<\/p>\n

— PamS (@PamSchep) October 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Completely unethical conduct by you @blythebernhard<\/a> @ShaunKing<\/a> @drjudymelinek<\/a><\/p>\n

— Cameron Bolender (@cbolender2004) October 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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@blythebernhard<\/a> @drjudymelinek<\/a> the expert you relied on telling you you got it wrong. Your refusal to acknowledge her concerns are telling<\/p>\n

— m34me (@tettes) October 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.@blythebernhard<\/a> has @stltoday<\/a> given you your walking papers yet?<\/p>\n

— Nathan Whittaker (@n8inSLC) October 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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@blythebernhard<\/a> saying it enough times does not make it the truth, your moral compass is lacking, do the right thing!! @drjudymelinek<\/a><\/p>\n

— mary teatowel (@maryteatowel) October 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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@blythebernhard<\/a> @drjudymelinek<\/a> seems like unethical conduct by a less than ethical reporter. @blythebernhard<\/a> shaped quotes to her liking.<\/p>\n

— Mike George (@mg49erfan) October 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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@blythebernhard<\/a> u a real piece of shit lady,. Smh<\/p>\n

— King (@TopFlightHov) October 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Melinek says she’s learned a couple of lessons from the experience.<\/p>\n

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Most important lesson from this week: complex forensic concepts can't be expressed in tweets and soundbites. #Ferguson<\/a><\/p>\n

— Judy Melinek M.D. (@drjudymelinek) October 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Lesson learned: Nothing is ever off the record & if an expert wants accuracy and proper context she has to write it for herself.<\/p>\n

— Judy Melinek M.D. (@drjudymelinek) October 25, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Read more: http:\/\/twitchy.com\/2014\/10\/25\/forensic-pathologist-charges-reporter-used-inaccurate-and-misleading-quotes-on-michael-brown-autopsy\/<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/drjudymelinek\/status\/525771302293225472 That’s Dr. Judy Melinek, forensic pathologist and author of “Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner,” expressing her thanks to the Daily Kos. Why? Melinek was interviewed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on the autopsy of Michael Brown and now disputes how she was quoted, an assertion defended at length by the … Continue reading Pathologist charges reporter used ‘inaccurate and misleading quotes’<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[2000,1998,1996,1997,1709,1999,2001],"class_list":["post-3427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anxiety","tag-autopsy-report","tag-curtis-brown","tag-forensic-pathologist","tag-judy-melinek","tag-michael-brown","tag-mike-brown","tag-st-louis-post-dispatch"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/14303657887618-judy-melichek.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/effectsofanxiety.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}