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05 September 2008
More downsizing at the Chronicle
Over at Lone Star Times, Matt Bramanti notes that the Chronicle is facing more downsizing:
The Houston Chronicle offered voluntary buyouts to its employees today, with a goal of reducing staff by roughly 80 full-time positions, Publisher and President Jack Sweeney said Thursday.
Depending on how many employees request buyouts, layoffs might be necessary. When the reductions are completed at the end of the month, the full-time staff will be cut by 5 to 6 percent, Sweeney said.
The problems the newspaper industry faces are numerous, but the Chronicle's current "dumbed down and trashed up" strategy should not be a model for other newspapers.
Final word goes to Matt:
A little math reveals that the Chronicle employs about 1,450 people. Less than four years ago, more than 2,400 people worked for the Chron.
Firing a thousand people must be good for editor Jeff Cohen’s golf game. His handicap currently stands at 8.6, down from 9 during last year’s layoffs.
Nice shooting, Jeff!
RELATED: Chronicle to reduce workforce (Houston Business Journal)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/05/08 06:32 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
21 March 2008
Chron.com: dumbed down and trashed up (cont'd.)
Geez. I stopped going to the Chron.com homepage because it's such a mess, but Cory Crow bravely continues sacrificing his brain cells and spots this.
As the Chron's reader rep admits, it's all about "traffic spikes."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ dumbed down and trashed up (cont'd.)"> 03/21/08 07:39 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
28 March 2008
Chron.com: dumbed down and trashed up (cont'd.)
Jennifer Ringwald (of Houston's best cover band) posts this observation about Chron.com:
Of 12 headlines on the Houston Chronicle homepage, 3 concerned strippers. Doesn't that seem oddly balanced? This is actually preferable to yesterday, when the main article was about which Spring colors were expected to be hot. I guess I need to find another place to get my daily Dear Abby.
Hard news isn't exactly the focus of Chron.com these days.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ dumbed down and trashed up (cont'd.)"> 03/28/08 09:40 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
27 May 2009
Chron.com: Dumbed down and trashed up (cont'd)
It's almost become passé to mock the confused jumble of user party photos, journalist and reader blog content, tacky ads, and (oh yeah!) links to news stories that occupy the front page of the website of the area's newspaper of record.
Sometimes, though, content like this merits a shout-out (click here for an enlarged view):
In case the image isn't clear enough for you, the text that accompanies that featured bit of news is as follows:
Pics of screaming babies: hilarious!
Photos of other people's kids throwing fits will make you feel better about your own little devils. Take a look at some of the best temper tantrums caught on film. It's OK to laugh.
It's a good thing that the Chron.com web team scrubbed the site of all references to this little blog a while back, so the Chronsters could narrowly focus on the community's more *ahem* legitimate news and commentary.
UPDATE: KHOU.com has posted an amusing, somewhat related AP news story ("Chron.com, other newspapers consider charging fees for Web sites").
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Dumbed down and trashed up (cont'd)"> 05/27/09 11:57 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (7)
16 January 2006
Chron's "star" and TMi: dumbed-down and trashed-up
Chronicle Reader Rep. James Campbell disclosed that he often cringes when he turns to the TMi page in the "star" section on Wednesdays:
[...]most media entities, including the Houston Chronicle, are in our faces with stories about the famous, infamous and previously undistinguished people trying to make careers out of their 15 minutes of fame. We're told that the focus on pop culture is a necessary divergence from the serious news. But that begs the question: How much pop culture is too much? If readers who complain about our TMi page published each Wednesday in the STAR Section are a measure, we've already crossed the line.
For the uninitiated, the TMi page, whose motto is "more pop-culture news than anyone needs," is not for the faint of heart, sensitive or humorless. The page features a montage of sidebars and vignettes about TV, movies, music, fashion and the famous garnished with bold headlines and even bolder photographs. The topics are intentionally sophomoric and nonchallenging, point being to give pop-culture worshipers an irreverent take on your name-of-topic. Some Wednesdays I dread turning to the page.
We know the feeling. Early on in this little blog's life, we complained about the loss of the wonderful Sunday Texas Magazine and the need for a parental warning label in the "star" section, often because of the TMi content. I have long since stopped reading that section, and not just because pictures of scantily clad women are not something I want my kids seeing on the dining room table in the mornings. How about that story of a UH student becoming a Playboy Playmate? Yeah, that's great breakfast conversation! Very edifying!
How many other readers are like me: so turned off by what might be in the "star" section that we no longer even open it up?
John Derbyshire summed it up best when he said, "Pop culture is filth."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ dumbed-down and trashed-up"> 01/16/06 07:32 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (6)
07 January 2009
Are you going to miss Whitney Casey when she's gone?
The Chronicle's reader representative has resurfaced in 2009, and offers this look into the inner workings of the newspaper's Star section, courtesy of a reader email and the reader rep's followup:
Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 7:22 PM
Subject: Whitney Casey's PhotosThe assortment of come-hither poses that accompany "columnist" Whitney Casey's offerings weaken the credibility of her articles. I believe she has the incorrect job if what she wanted, instead, was to be a "pin up" girl.
In addition, it makes it appear she is using her position to find a relationship of her own. I don't believe the Chronicle has the duty to assist her. Indeed, other columnists' photos rarely change, even if they need to be updated.
Jim's Response: I went straight to Kyrie O'Conner, Chronicle deputy managing editor/features, on this. This is what she had to say: "It was our choice, not Whitney's to run a larger (and changing) photo with her column. She happened to have some new photos and given the nature of her column, we thought they went with it."
If it's dumbed down and trashed up, one might guess Kyrie O'Connor was involved.
The Houston Press blog Hairballs was documenting the rotating glamor photos way back in October 2008, though, so that's not entirely new.
What is new is the Star section's efforts in promoting Casey's new book. Here's a sampling:
Whitney Casey hit a snag in her plan for finding a man.
It seems that interviewing 250 men and writing an advice book, The Man Plan: Drive Men Wild – Not Away, on how catch a fellow’s attention, left her a little too much in the know for one potential date, who was scared off by Casey’s mastery of the tricks of the trade.
“The Man Plan is ruining my man plan,” Casey said.
Not that the blond, 6-foot former TV journalist — she hosted Great Day Houston and now writes a relationship column in the Houston Chronicle — has trouble catching eyes.
But after a year of finagling a book deal, then researching and writing it, Casey finds herself touting The Man Plan nationally, with a heart on the mend. She recently broke up with her doctor boyfriend.
A while back, O'Connor posted "You're going to miss us when we're gone" in reference to continuing problems in the print newspaper industry.
The metro and state desks? Absolutely.
Rotating glamor shots and related columnists/articles? Not so much.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/07/09 10:09 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
27 September 2004
The section formerly known as Features
What is going on with the Chronicle's section formerly known as Features? It has been renamed to a picture of a gold star, which means we must call it the "star" section, but that's not where the bad ideas end.
Kevin Whited told us recently that Texas Magazine, a weekend insert, has ceased to exist. What the Chronicle said is that the stories about interesting people and places around Texas, in addition to schedules of events, would now be found in the "star" section. Well bummer. Texas Magazine was great and was one of the few things that made the Sunday paper worthwhile.
I checked out the "star" section to find those unique Texas Magazine stories I am now missing. Unfortunately, I am still missing them, because they aren't there. What we do have in the new and improved "star" section is a whole lot of skin. And trendy fashion. And celebrity news. Yippee.
The "star" section practically needs a parental warning label because plastered all over the pages are women in various clothing styles, frequently employing the less-is-more thinking. We even get an interview with a Playboy Playmate who is also a UH senior. And, to add to the vapidity, the "star" section appears to be fixated with Paris Hilton.
MeMo is in charge of the "star" section and her unique, uh, style is very apparent. We can guess the goal is to attract a younger audience to the Chronicle, and MeMo is going to do that by creating a dumbed-down and trashed-up section. Saturdays look to be maintaining the theme of Home and Garden, but the rest of the week is suspect. And there is not a hint of those wonderful stories that used to fill Texas Magazine.
I wonder what long-time readers think of the new "star" section? My guess is most Houstonians don't even open it up anymore, unless it is to turn to the comics.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 09/27/04 03:06 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
06 April 2007
Chron: Northgate Forest residents are racist
What else are we to conclude after reading yesterday's opening, loaded paragraph written by Ericka Mellon?
Some residents of an upscale subdivision are trying to take advantage of a little-known provision in state law to get out of the increasingly diverse Spring school district and join the more-affluent and higher-performing Klein system.
That's not objective journalism; that's Ericka Mellon's personal interpretation of what Northgate Forest petitioners are attempting to do. None of the stories I have read on this issue have included residents saying they want out of Spring ISD because of the district's "increasing diversity." The issue is better education for two main reasons: for their children, and for their property values.
However, you won't find the above paragraph in the Chron's story anymore. The link to yesterday's story which included that doozy of a paragraph has been modified to reflect Spring ISD's rejection of the residents' request:
Homeowners in a posh Spring subdivision have lost round one of their battle to join the wealthier, better-performing Klein Independent School District.
The Spring school board today unanimously rejected a petition signed by 190 Northgate Forest residents to separate the area from the predominantly minority district and be annexed to Klein ISD.
"Better-performing" is more in line with what Northgate Forest residents are seeking, and Spring ISD knows it can't afford to give up those homes:
The assessed value of the relatively small subdivision — $92.5 million, about 1 percent of the district's tax base — was too much for the district to lose, especially considering that only seven students from Northgate are currently enrolled in Spring schools, according to the district.
So Northgate Forest residents will most likely continue to be forced to hand over their tax dollars to an underperforming district, while most send their children to private schools, a fact that was noted in a previous Chronicle story. I'd look for the link but the Chron's archives suck and I don't have the energy to waste on that effort. However, today's modified story hints at it:
But for Northgate resident Miriam Witt and her husband, Marcos, a Latin Grammy winner, the petition offered a chance at better schools for their children. They have opted for the private Northland Christian school and a homeschooling program.
''I'm not against supporting a particular school district,'' she said, ''but I would personally like to be able to choose where our children go to school.''
Progressive journalists and other public education utopians can wring their hands all they like over what they think is racist behavior by folks who don't want their tax dollars funding poorly-performing schools, but the fact is many public policies have led to this problem. Unfettered illegal immigration combined with a lack of parental responsibility in some communities has led to dumbed-down standards and curriculum in many public school districts.
And folks are getting tired of being forced to pay for schools that continue to underperform.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/06/07 08:07 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (36)
28 January 2007
Teachers, salaries, and bonuses
The Chronicle's editorial board has written a conventional-wisdom type of piece today filled with the usual nonsense about underpaid teachers. The editorial is partly a response to HISD's handing out of bonuses last week. (More on that in a minute.)
The LJ's editorial thesis is that teachers are so underpaid, their morale is somewhere deep in the earth's crust. I hate this tired conventional wisdom because by and large it's just not true. The key is the number of days each year a teacher works. Everyone knows teachers get gobs more vacation days than average working folks do.
Let's say a teacher making $40,000 a year works 186 days a year -- that works out to $215 per day. Divide that by eight hours and the teacher is making almost $27 per hour. Factor in benefits -- and thanks to teachers unions, teachers have good benefits that don't come out of their paychecks like private sector employees' benefits -- and teachers aren't doing badly at all. That $40,000 salary is actually well-beyond $50,000 with benefits added in!
As for summer vacation -- teachers can save their money so they can take a two-month vacation, or they can teach summer school and make even more money.
How many non-teaching folks can take 60 vacation days a year and not lose their jobs? Eh, I certainly can't!
Plus, with increased longevity within a district, and the earning of a master's degree, teachers can increase their pay quite nicely.
Generally speaking, once a teacher has spent a good number of years in a district and earned a master's degree, a teacher is paid a pretty good salary, for 180+ days of work!
Now take your average working person (AWP) who makes $40,000 a year. Let's assume AWP gets weekends off, two weeks of vacation a year, and five holidays. AWP works 246 days a year, which means AWP makes $20 per hour AND gets benefits taken out of each paycheck.
That's quite a difference!
If the editorial board wants teachers to be "paid what they are worth to society," I'd like to know if the editors have put any REAL thought into the matter. Do the editors have a dollar figure in mind? Would $30 per hour be sufficient? How about $40? And at what level? Is that entry-level? Let's get specific!
Where there is low morale in schools, other factors are often the cause -- unruly students, uninvolved parents, weak-willed administrators, dumbed-down curricula geared to lower-level students, etc. Pay isn't generally at the top of the list of gripes. Teachers who love to teach aren't doing it to get rich. They love to help students learn.
Then there's the issue of the Chronicle posting every teacher's name who received a bonus, along with the amount of the bonus. I have a problem with that. I don't have a problem with the Chronicle posting the amounts, the schools and the subjects, but there was no reason for the names to be printed. (Although Gayle Fallon must have enjoyed the blog brawl that ensued. Anything that can get her closer to ALL teachers getting ALL the bonus money is a win for her. More union dues money -- yay!)
Yes, it's public money and that makes it perfectly reasonable to disclose the amounts. It strikes me though that issues of individual pay should be private whenever possible, just as entities are loathe to disclose personnel matters. Can HISD go back to the drawing table to fine-tune the bonus program? Certainly. And that's something the private sector has been doing for years, but the decision to print the names was unnecessary. The teachers are public sector employees, but generally don't put themselves in the public eye, and that's something I wish the Chronicle had considered.
BLOGVERSATION: Stories From a Teaching Life.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 01/28/07 03:49 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (15)
11 November 2004
Chris Baker takes on the Chronicle
Yesterday the Chronicle ran a story on the changes occurring at KPRC-950 (AM) and KTRH-740 (AM). To recap, Chris Baker's show is moving from KPRC to KTRH, with a slight time change, and Sean Hannity's show will move from KTRH to KPRC, all of which takes place November 15. The Chronicle's Clifford Pugh interviewed Baker, and gave us the story:
Chris Baker, a former stand-up comic whose talk show currently airs on KPRC-AM (950), will move to KTRH-AM (740). His show will air from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays.
Baker started his show yesterday with both barrels blasting - at the Chronicle. The first problem, he said, is that he's not a former stand-up comic - he still is a comedian, which I think faithful listeners can agree with. The guy is funny. The second problem (I hope I get this right as I don't want both barrels aimed at me!) is that Baker feels Pugh missed the point of the soon-to-be changes and wrote the story in a way that put the emphasis on the negative:
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 11/11/04 07:32 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
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