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29 June 2008
An Editorial LiveJournal from Mr. Gibbons!
Mr. Gibbons' diaries are SO elegant, witty, and insightful (especially true when compared to other Chron diaries)! We urge everyone to check out his ideal state.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Gibbons!"> 06/29/08 10:38 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
19 April 2005
Gibbons Editorial LiveJournal: Guns, guns, oh my!
Matt Bramanti takes Gibbons to task for some specific references in the Gibbons diary about his trip to the NRA gun show.
I have a more fundamental question -- why should newspaper readers care about James Howard Gibbons' trip through a gun show? And how self-important does the man have to be to think the editorial page of a major daily is the place for said ramblings (as opposed to a LiveJournal)?
We've taken to calling these insipid diversions "Editorial LiveJournals," a play on the Chron's own name for the columns and an allusion to the diary-like nature of the LiveJournal service. It's an ongoing source of amusement that the same person who lectured bloggers about editorial pages in an ideal state continues to grab space on his own editorial page for personal columns that are closer to LiveJournal entries than editorials in an ideal state.
Incidentally, recent Editorial LiveJournals have referred to Gibbons as the editor of the editorial page, with the previous "interim" tag removed. An email to the newspaper confirmed that Gibbons is now the editor of that page. So, it looks like we can expect even more Editorial LiveJournals -- unless Mr. Gibbons takes us up on this offer.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Gibbons Editorial LiveJournal: Guns, guns, oh my!"> 04/19/05 04:48 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (7)
11 April 2005
James Howard Gibbons' editorial LiveJournal
We've gotten used to Lucas Wall using his transportation column for petulant outbursts when he is inconvenienced by the city's public transportation.
His LiveJournal-like "editorial journal" makes it clear that he's not happy that somehow, his license plates flagged him as someone with a phantom arrest warrant. It's Kafkaesque, he (almost) says!
While blogHOUSTON would certainly never wish misfortune upon anyone (as Ayn Rand might say, we believe in a beneficent universe), we can't help but be slightly amused when certain Chronicle journalists discover the problems that normal Houstonians run into every day. The difference, of course, is that most normal Houstonians don't get to use the city's only major daily to express their displeasure.
We're also amused that Mr. Gibbons is discovering the ineptitude that has resulted from six years of mismanagement by the mayoral candidate his editorial board endorsed repeatedly.
Perhaps the Editorial Idealist should (con)descend to the cave with the rest of us commoners more frequently. He might just discover that the city isn't exactly in an ideal state.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ James Howard Gibbons' editorial LiveJournal"> 04/11/05 10:29 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
29 April 2006
Editorial LiveJournal: Mr. Gibbons goes to the theater!
It's been quite a while since a member of the Chronicle editorial board treated us to a diary of one of his/her grand adventures in the city of Houston in the form of an Editorial LiveJournal.
Bad things come to those who wait, however, as James Howard Gibbons has an account of his trip to the theater in today's Chronicle:
In this overstimulating age, I'm frequently tempted to say, "Oh, let someone else go out and get himself royally entertained." Fortunately, I resisted the temptation and went to see a production of Moličre's The Miser, which runs through Sunday at the Alley Theatre.This production of the 17th century French play, by Theatre de la Jeune Lune, adapts the script for today's audiences. But while the play now refers to Enron, the themes are dissimilar.
It seems kind of fitting that that Mr. Gibbons chose to write about an interpretive bastardization of Moličre on a bastardization of a major newspaper editorial page.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Gibbons goes to the theater!"> 04/29/06 07:46 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
18 January 2006
The return of the Editorial LiveJournal
It's been ages since a member of the Chronicle editorial board treated us to an Editorial LiveJournal.
We thought we'd had so much fun at their expense that perhaps they retired them.
Trying to pick a favorite song is a fool's errand.
As Matt Bramanti points out, Gibbons proves well suited to the task.
It's still not clear why this features-style writing appears on the editorial page of a major newspaper, especially given our generous offer to relocate such content.
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/18/06 11:55 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
22 January 2006
France is the ideal state!
Remember so long ago when Chronicle editorial page editor (or the Chief Editorial LiveJournalist as we like to call him) James Howard Gibbons lectured bloggers on the superiority of "magazine commentary and editorial pages in their ideal state."
Today, the Chief Editorial LiveJournalist gave it away:
I wish I had a dollar for every time [retiring Chronicle cartoonist Clyde Peterson] reminded me: "It (politics) is (unlike professional sports) only a game." I'd be living a life of leisure in the South of France.
As Matt Bramanti emailed earlier, "France is the ideal state."
Of COURSE!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/22/06 09:55 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
11 June 2005
Editorial LiveJournal: Mr. Gibbons rides his bike!
Chronicle editorial page editor and Platonic idealist James Howard Gibbons has another of his Editorial LiveJournals in today's newspaper.
Here's a sample:
The summer day had set in with its usual severity when I set out from home on my bicycle. After several blocks I dismounted and walked through the sculpture garden of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, then rode the remaining blocks to the Museum District light-rail station.I wheeled my bike onto the next train, and enjoyed air-conditioned comfort until we reached the northern end of the line. I got off at the University of Houston — Downtown, then rode through the loft district to the McKee Street Bridge.
At the bridge I took the new hike-and-bike trail along Buffalo Bayou to Jensen Drive, where Mayor Bill White and other dignitaries officially opened the path and joined bikers and hikers for the inaugural ride and stroll.
WHO CARES?!
And why would the opinion page editor of a quality newspaper subject poor readers to it? Especially after his friends at blogHOUSTON constructed a much more suitable home for such nonsense!
Sedosi Alhambra has more thoughts.
UPDATE (06-13-2005): As Matt Bramanti notes in the comments, Mr. Gibbons spelled the name of a major Houston street incorrectly (Shepard instead of Shepherd) in his Editorial LiveJournal. THAT would seem to be less than ideal!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Gibbons rides his bike!"> 06/11/05 09:45 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
23 May 2005
James Howard Gibbons: The tough, smart LiveJournalist!
Chronicle editorial page editor James Howard Gibbons has posted another Editorial LiveJournal entry on his editorial page today.
Sure, he can call it a Sounding Board article, but any column that uses "I" as much as Gibbons' does is an Editorial LiveJournal in our view.
Apparently, the Editorial LiveJournalist wants those silly readers who see the world in black and white and who criticized that offensive editorial on Florida's new child predator law to know that he really does know best. He served on a jury after all, and was TOUGH. Tough and smart, not unlike Jim Adler!
Matt Bramanti gives the Editorial LiveJournal a good Fisking over at Lone Star Times.
UPDATE (05-24-2005): I neglected Sedosi Alhambra's post on the tough, smart LiveJournalist (item #7).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ James Howard Gibbons: The tough, smart LiveJournalist!"> 05/23/05 11:25 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
17 August 2006
Hoffman gets no respect from Demeris patron
Chronicle columnist Ken Hoffman has a burger named after him at Demeris barbeque.
At one time, another restaurant had this burger named for Hoffman. That restaurant closed. Somehow, Demeris came to have the Hoffy burger.
In today's column, Hoffman tells an amusing story about a guy waiting for food at Demeris who started arguing with Hoffman and crew that the burger is really named for "John Hofheinz."
It's a fun read. Houstonians can be a hoot when they're armed with a few incorrect notions and a full head of steam (hmm, I wonder.... nah, surely James Howard Gibbons knows that the burger is named after his newspaper's columnist; it had to be someone else).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/17/06 10:18 PM | Houston People | Technorati | Comments (0)
18 September 2006
Editorial LiveJournal: Oriana Fallaci
James Howard Gibbons, editor of the Chronicle's opinion pages, today offers up another personal reflection that the newspaper calls an Editorial Journal (we prefer the term Editorial LiveJournal).
The title of this one is kind of fun:
So it is, Mr. Gibbons, so it is!
The Editorial LiveJournal reflects on the late Oriana Fallaci, for whom a young Mr. Gibbons worked when he was 18. Fallaci passed away last week.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/18/06 11:36 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
03 December 2006
While they're at it...
Chronicle reader representative James Campbell comments today on Chron editors who apparently decided to play marketers with the newspaper's front page:
The photo of model Alexandra Kelly that nearly covered Page One of last Sunday's early edition Chronicle was strikingly elegant and aptly symbolic of the story it announced about defying age.
The problem was, Kelly was nude, her privates covered only by the positioning of her arms and legs and an artistic back shadow. The stylishly tasteful photo was more befitting the cover of an upscale women's magazine than Page One of the Chronicle, some readers protested.
Eh, we think it's brilliant marketing actually.
When your content is of questionable value, go for more graphics!
In fact, we'd suggest replacing at least half of the content on the editorial page with "stylishly tasteful" skin shots. That should attract some readers. And it would be at least as interesting as James Howard Gibbons' personal diaries or Andrea Georgsson's leftover adventures!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/03/06 09:52 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (8)
26 July 2005
The return of the Monotonous Voice
Perhaps it's just me, but for a while it seemed as if James Howard Gibbons had forgotten about that "Another Voice" feature, in which the Chronicle editorial page rips blurbs out of the newspapers from which the editorialists frequently take their cues.
Gibbons seems to have rediscovered the magic.
Yesterday, there was a Monotonous Voice from the New York Times. Today there is a Monotonous Voice from the Washington Post
Since Gibbons seems to like to crib from the LA Times editorial page also (as we've seen from how he's been putting the Sunday editorial pages together recently), it would only be fitting if there's a Monotonous Voice from that newspaper tomorrow.
UPDATE (07-27-2005): No LA Times Monotonous Voice today. We're disappointed with Mr. Gibbons.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/26/05 09:03 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
24 November 2005
Blood-red cranberry sauce: Thanksgiving celebration of genocide
Chronicle editorial page editor James Howard Gibbons apparently just LOVES Robert Jensen.
That doesn't reflect well on the Chronicle or on Gibbons, given Jensen's position WAY out on the fringes even of the far Left.
But it's great blog fodder.
Matt Bramanti is all over Professor Jensen's latest nonsense.
Professor Jensen, incidentally, is a professor of journalism at the University of Texas.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/24/05 04:23 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
25 June 2006
Mr. Gibbons visits the sea, via Courbet and MFAH
The Editorial LiveJournal makes a return to the Chronicle editorial pages today.
We frequently refer to the Chronicle editorialists as the Editorial LiveJournalists. That's because opinion page editor James Howard Gibbons decided some time ago that his opinion pages occasionally need to run personal diaries instead of the usual staff editorials. And so we have been treated to stories of Gibbons riding his bike (no joke!) and another editorialist offering her leftovers to her neighbors (no kidding!). It's fare more appropriate to a LiveJournal than a serious newspaper. Hence the term, Editorial LiveJournalists.
Here is a snippet from today's Editorial (Live)Journal:
A civil rights lawyer in Austin wears what surely must be the world's most desirable wristwatch. Instead of numerals or marks indicating the hours, the watch's face bears the words, "It's time to go to the beach."
This is the season for that pleasure, but the frequent thunderstorms and heavy rains might deter some beachgoers. No matter. An exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston holds the remedy.Entitled Courbet and the Modern Landscape, the exhibit offers three rooms of paintings by Gustav Courbet, selected to show this master's role as a transitional figure from the idealized painting of the Salon and state patronage to realism and Impressionism. While most of Courbet's painting were completed in the studio, he made many drawings in the field so as to be able to paint things as they are and as he saw them.
Particularly sublime is the selection of Courbet's seascapes.
And less sublime is the typo in the Editorial LiveJournal.
As Matt Bramanti asked in reference to an earlier Editorial LiveJournal, why do these diaries keep appearing on the editorial page of a major metropolitan newspaper?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Gibbons visits the sea, via Courbet and MFAH"> 06/25/06 11:57 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
26 June 2007
A conservative columnist for the Chronicle?
Chronicle reader representative James Campbell follows up on the news of Cragg Hines' retirement with this interesting blog tidbit today:
I spoke with Chronicle editorial page editor James Howard Gibbons who said he wants to hire a local conservative columnist to put in the mix of staff columnists. Stay tuned for more details.
That would be quite a development, if Gibbons actually follows through.
Still, we'd settle for a web-savvy columnist who might be willing to shake things up a little -- say, this guy or this guy. They both have journalism backgrounds, after all, and newspapers like that. Plus they're wicked writers (and I like that).
If you have any suggestions for the Chronicle, feel free to leave a comment on Campbell's blog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/26/07 09:25 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (8)
05 August 2005
The Houston Conspiracy Theory
Sedosi has been drinking thinking, and says he has figured out what's really going on in Houston. My favorite line:
James Howard Gibbons looks terrible in heels.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/05/05 08:24 AM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
24 April 2005
Chron announces Gibbons promotion
The Chronicle finally got around today to announcing what blogHOUSTON readers learned on Tuesday -- the "interim" tag has been removed from James Howard Gibbons' job title, as he has been named the editorial page editor:
"Editorial pages are designed to help you pause and think about the current and critical issues of the day," said Chronicle Publisher Jack Sweeney. "James Gibbons has demonstrated his ability to do just that in leading our daily discussion with Chronicle readers."[snip]
Chronicle Editor Jeff Cohen said he has asked Gibbons to "discern the community's daily concerns and to lead the discussion with the editorial board as we offer guidance about what is good for the people of Houston."
"We will persuade with reason and without antagonism," Cohen said. "We will be mindful of Texas' diversity. And our focus will not be on who or what is conservative or liberal; our focus will be on what is interesting, important or provocative."
Offer guidance about what is good for the people of Houston?
Spoken like a true liberal mainstream media dinosaur. Seriously, could that be any more condescending?
As for Jack Sweeney's reference to Gibbons' demonstrated ability to lead the daily discussion -- well, we'll just say it's been some discussion! The editorial page under Gibbons has been extremely slow to offer opinions on hot local topics. He's put state Rep. Rick Noriega (D) in Iraq instead of Afghanistan. He's cited a nonexistent treaty. He's gotten so excited about Walter Matthau that he completely blew the numbers on a budget editorial of all things. He's gotten attention from the Wall Street Journal for referring to Afghanistan's president as "Hamid Crazy." He's let way too many serious substantive and copy errors get through. And, of course, there's the now famous editorial from Mr. Gibbons on the ideal state.
Those are just some of our favorites. As they might say in the journalism business, space considerations prevent us from really reflecting on these Chronicle editorial pages in their ideal state! But, we're sure we'll continue to have plenty of opportunities now that Mr. Gibbons' "interim" tag has been removed.
ANNE ADDS: My favorite Chronicle editorial is Hamid Crazy. All those layers of professionally-trained journalists and that whopper makes it into print!
The most stunning example of the Chronicle's mindset is the contrasting editorials on the topic of death: one editorial wondering why an innocent person in an incapacitated state, like Terri Schiavo, would be allowed to live, and another celebrating the end of death sentences for convicted murderers.
Ugh.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Gibbons promotion"> 04/24/05 08:02 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
03 October 2008
It's buyout time at the Chronicle!
A friend recently alerted us that buyouts were being finalized this week at the Chronicle
Apparently, today is the day for some of the announcements. We presume this blog post from Julie Mason is related (and the Chron's D.C. bureau just got a little more serious).
John Wilburn, most recently the Chron's managing editor, takes over as Opinion Director. Steve Jetton takes over as Outlook editor. David Langworthy slides into an editorial writing position. Jim Newkirk takes over as reader rep (and will apparently retain his gigs as budget czar and high school liaison).
That's what we are hearing so far. If you have any other interesting Chron buyout tidbits, feel free to pass them along in the comments (or anonymously here if you prefer).
Here's hoping these moves improve what had become simply a dreadful editorial page -- one that recently confused the date of 9/11 and the name of the Harris County Sheriff (calling him Tommy Thompson, and refusing to correct the mistake). We can't say we'll miss the Editorial Journals of one James Howard Gibbons -- or his editorials in an erroneous state. But if he decides he misses the opinion game, we still have his diary space at the ready!
UPDATE: We hear that Rad Sallee has taken the buyout. Will METRO have a position for him?
UPDATE (10/09/08): Per Media Bistro, Mason didn't get the buyout and Bennett Roth of the D.C. bureau was also laid off.
UPDATE (10/12/08): Another source says Mason and Roth were offered the buyout. Maybe at some point the newspaper will issue a press release and clear it all up.
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times (and here), Unca Darrell.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/03/08 06:27 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (2)
11 May 2005
Chron editorials: Just read and gasp (updated)
That disturbing Chronicle editorial from yesterday -- saying Florida's sex offender law is too harsh -- received some attention yesterday from none other than Fox News' Bill O'Reilly:
[...]why is "The Houston Chronicle" criticizing Florida's tough new crackdown on child molesters?
We can help with that question: in the Chronicle's world leftovers and criminals are more important than unborn babies and crime victims.
In fact, Sedosi Alhambra sums it up perfectly:
A new standard of Editorial ineptitude.
This is so bad I can't even comment.
Just read and gasp.
Perhaps that could become the new editorial page banner -- "Just read and gasp."
He complains about O'Reilly getting his facts wrong (which just never happens in Chron editorials, nosirree), and says this:
O'Reilly claims his show is free of spin. Spin is when someone casts the facts in such a light as to reinforce his argument and weaken his opponent's. What O'Reilly did was to disregard the facts altogether, even going so far as to attribute to the Chronicle words and views it did not print and does not espouse.
Before Chronicle readers complain about an editorial, I hope they take the time to read the editorial carefully, rather than relying on someone else's careless characterization of its contents.
Oh Mr. Gibbons, we did read the editorial. And we still think Sedosi Alhambra's reaction is perfect -- just read and gasp.
Maybe Gibbons could ask for a correction from O'Reilly?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 05/11/05 10:32 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (8)
27 July 2005
Painful
James Howard Gibbons had to be responsible for this:
But a virtual library, no matter how expertly perused, can't offer the serendipity so nourishing to creative thought. No matter where a scholar wanders on the Internet, she travels a linear path she has initiated with a predetermined key word or phrase.
Please.
Don't do that again.
Thanks.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/27/05 11:04 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
01 February 2006
Editorial LiveJournal: Mr. Gibbons and the car show!
The Houston Chronicle editorial page ventured into personal-diary territory again today, as opinion page editor James Howard Gibbons carried on about the Houston auto show and purchasing a car.
Here are some excerpts:
Every 12 years I buy another car, whether I need one or not. Last fall the time came due, and so I exchanged a 15-year-old Japanese sedan for a 3-year-old German one. I wish I had waited until I had attended the Houston Auto Show at Reliant Center. My choice might have been different.
Judging by the number of people climbing in and out of the pickup trucks and SUVs on display, Texans have not lost their love affair with vehicles able to hold more than one family or homestead. The latest models offer slightly better gas mileage than their predecessors, and if I belonged to a large tribe I might have bought one.[snip]
Half of my cars have been red convertibles, and there were several in the auto show that tempted me again, including the Mazda Miata and the new Pontiac Solstice.
[snip]
My wife has a hankering for a Toyota RAV4 small SUV. Unfortunately, the redesigned RAV4 is elongated and not as cute as the original — a lesson that some things are not easily improved.
General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner told the Chronicle's editorial board Friday that GM's most difficult task was fixing its product line.
[snip]
I have never owned an American car, and have not studied one closely since the birth of the Mustang, Camaro and GTO during the '60s.
Shouldn't these big boosters of light rail be using the public transportation? And shouldn't they be considering a vehicle other than an SUV, even if it is a small SUV?
But here's a better question -- is this really fodder for the editorial page of a serious newspaper?
No, it is not.
For those who are new to blogHOUSTON and wonder why we call the Chronicle editorial board the "Editorial LiveJournalists," it's because they continue to publish these personal diaries on the editorial page, when there is a much better forum for such diaries. It's really hard to take this editorial page seriously for that reason.
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Gibbons and the car show!"> 02/01/06 06:35 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
05 May 2005
Gibbons: We're behind you Jeff!
James Howard Gibbons and crew are upset today about the NBA's treatment of the Rockets' Jeff Van Gundy.
Because world-class newspapers that don't have an inferiority complex regarding the state's third largest city just do things like that.
More sober -- if less popular -- perspectives on the matter are offered up by one of the best sportswriters in Texas (Randy Galloway), and from various ESPN.com writers (Marc Stein, Adrian Wojnarowski, and Ric Bucher).
Maybe Mr. Gibbons should leave sports opinion to the sports pages.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ Gibbons: We're behind you Jeff!"> 05/05/05 07:25 PM | Houston Life | Technorati | Comments (0)
27 October 2007
The return of the Editorial LiveJournal
It's been quite a while since James Howard Gibbons and crew posted a true Editorial LiveJournal, so today's is a treat! Here's an excerpt:
If the French believe that gilding is the lily's proper fate, so violated is nature becoming that it might require gilding in order to be aesthetically pleasing. An example Ohlin provided are the bronzed, artificial rocks of artist Vija Clemens.
It's really world class when the Chief Editorial LiveJournalist breaks out the flowery prose!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/27/07 12:17 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
28 April 2005
It only took two days to get a Galveston editorial
Someone must have lit a fire underneath editorial page Editor James Howard Gibbons, because today we get an editorial on President Bush's trip to Galveston where he talked about Social Security.
The President's trip out here was on Tuesday and today is Thursday. Wow! That's pretty timely.
As for the editorial itself, the Chronicle doesn't like the president's plan, which isn't too surprising.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 04/28/05 09:49 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
15 January 2005
A prime example of an irrelevant editorial page
At the start of the year, we tossed out some suggestions by which the Chronicle might improve a product clearly in decline (not to mention a business doing so poorly that it had to resort to massive layoffs and other downsizing in 2004).
A common theme of those suggestions was that the newspaper should embrace many of the concepts of open-source journalism inherent in blogging, and should focus resources on improving its local and state coverage. Specifically, we suggested that its out-of-touch editorial board should adopt a blog, in order to bring transparency to the newspaper and to head off ill-informed editorials that never should be printed by a quality newspaper.
Today, the Chronicle's "interim editorial page editor" James Howard Gibbons provides his response in the snide, dismissive, and ill-informed manner that characterizes too many staff editorials that appear in the newspaper:
Web logs, or blogs, are the hot new medium for commentary. So many have sprung up that one can only tend to a narrow selection or a digest of highlights.I have sampled a few blogs, but enjoyed fewer. Though reluctant to do anyone an injustice, I find that most blogs lack the elegance, wit and insight one looks for in magazine commentary and editorial pages in their ideal state.
Mr. Gibbons then goes on to post what he considers a "Webless log, or slog." His "slog posts" are, frankly, embarrassing. One feels for the dinosaur, thrashing about in his last days, painfully oblivious to the changing world around him.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/15/05 06:16 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (15)
10 July 2005
More "olds" from the editorial idealists
Last weekend, we noted that it seemed like James Howard Gibbons and his band of editorial idealists must have been in a big hurry to get away from 801 Texas Avenue for a long weekend, since they stuck their readers with so much stale content.
This weekend, the syndicated content seems pretty stale also.
There's a Charles Krauthammer column that ran in the Washington Post on Friday. There's a Lou Cannon op-ed that ran in the New York Times on Thursday. There's a Peter Bergen op-ed that ran in the New York Times on Friday. And there's a David Broder column that ran in the Washington Post on Thursday.
We sure wish "editorial pages in their ideal state" could have fresher, more lively content.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/10/05 10:22 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
31 July 2005
Shock: A Sunday editorial page mostly free of "olds"
After several weeks of stale Sunday editorial page content, James Howard Gibbons finally put together a Sunday page that is almost entirely fresh, and even contains a fair number of op-eds of local interest.
Apparently, Mr. Gibbons couldn't resist running one bit of "olds" by Jonathan Chait, for obvious reasons:
Earlier this month, when President Bush met with Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III to interview him for a potential Supreme Court nomination, the conversation turned to exercise. When asked by the president of the United States how often he exercised, Wilkinson impressively responded that he runs 3 1/2 miles a day. Bush urged him to adopt more cross-training. "He warned me of impending doom," Wilkinson told The New York Times.
Am I the only person who finds this disturbing?
The crew at Brothers Judd answered that question rather well with their headline way back on July 22, when Chait's op-ed appeared in the LA Times.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/31/05 09:18 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
03 October 2006
Stinking up the editorial page
On his Chron.com blog, reader representative James T. Campbell recounts the serious discussions that have taken place down at 801 Texas Avenue relative to the newspaper's use of the term "fart" in a headline on the editorial pages.
The Chief Editorial LiveJournalist James Howard Gibbons was apparently away, which may have contributed to the breakdown. Veronica Bucio, who once embarrassed herself and the newspaper by calling the U.S. Attorney General a liar, seems to have made the call to go with the stinky term, although she seems also to have consulted Leftover Specialist Andrea Georgsson and David Langworthy.
The reader representative does not indicate whether he was consulted before the headline was chosen, although he does express displeasure with it. More importantly, Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen didn't like it.
That begs the question -- why didn't someone think to ask Cohen his opinion before the headline was chosen. He is the editor after all.
But the weather has been really nice. It's entirely possible he was out on the links, with cell phone turned off. That's one of the perks of being the top dog at a newspaper with a spot on the fifth row in the White House press briefing room, we suppose.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/03/06 10:40 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
13 November 2005
The perils of group editorializing
Matt Bramanti took apart a Friday Chronicle editorial over at the Lone Star Times, asking "does anybody read this stuff before press time?"
By paragraph, the editorial went something like this:
- Senate committee hearings on energy company profits were a charade.
- Republicans were left to "feign hostility" during the hearings. Barbara Boxer's hostility is genuine.
- Oil execs had to endure the lecture, since they were bribed by tax cuts and permission to pollute.
- Taxing high profits will hurt supply, potentially bringing back gas lines. Besides, high prices encourage conservation.
- Execs say rising demand has boosted prices, but it's really profligate consumption by Americans, who make long drives from where they live and to shop!
- Expanding offshore drilling would boost energy supplies.
- Oil companies have a public duty.
- Energy companies should increase their charitable giving to help Houston's neediest residents
- Energy companies should increase their charitable giving to arts organizations to help Houston's neediest residents!
Bramanti blasted the questionable assertions contained in paragraph 9, but our amazement isn't with the error density of the editorial (which isn't especially high by Chron editorial page standards). Rather, it's the fact that the editorial doesn't advance any coherent view, but is instead a hodge podge of disparate paragraphs all advancing pet editorial idealist themes.
It's almost as if James Howard Gibbons decided they were going to write a nine-paragraph editorial on energy companies, and then passed around a hat to draw lots, so each editorial board member could participate by writing a paragraph, with the end result being a jumbled mess.
Here's a suggestion to James Howard Gibbons on how the editorial process ought to work: Poll your editorial board and try to decide what a majority of the board thinks about some issue. Assign a single editorial board member primary responsibility to write the thing. Circulate it among the rest of the board for comments. Revise. And by all means, read the thing for style, factual accuracy, and logical consistency before you commit it to print!
As an aside, we also noted the editorialists' use of the term "city with global ambitions." Would those be "world class" aspirations?
MORE: Tom Kirkendall points to this sensible, internally consistent Washington Post editorial on the hearings, oil companies and high profits.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/13/05 01:35 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
24 September 2006
Chron opinion section: Where "olds" is new again
The Chronicle opinion section is rarely timely.
It's such a problem that it really stopped being worth regular comment a while back.
But every once in a while, it's kind of fun to take a look at what the editors of that page are passing off as "new" to their declining subscriber base.
Today, the worst examples are a Joe Scarborough column that appeared in the Washington Post a week ago, and a George Weigel column that appeared in the LA Times last Wednesday.
They are interesting columns, and maybe some Chronicle print subscribers actually depend on the newspaper to reprint such "olds."
For some of us, though, it's just a sign that James Howard Gibbons and crew really are behind the times (and the Post, for that matter).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/24/06 12:58 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
20 February 2005
Chron editorial page editor invents new "ideal" practice!
We've noted that the Chronicle occasionally has problems with its letter page.
However, one problem we've never noted before is the newspaper's editorial page editor taking space on the editorial page to contest a letter written by a political partisan and published in the same day's letters section.
That's just what happened on Saturday, when the newspaper published a letter from Texas Republican Party Chair Tina Benkiser, "Dean's a gift to Republicans," a response to an op-ed by an Austin political partisan that ran over a week ago (an op-ed that was not matched by any critical comment from the Chron editorial board the day it ran). Benkiser's letter, however, was countered by an "editorial journal" from James Howard Gibbons that attempted to counter Benkiser.
Gibbons is interim editorial page editor, and if he wants to take up space by personally countering a political party chair who took the time to write his newspaper instead of soliciting a response from the other party's state chair, that's certainly his prerogative. It strikes me as poor editorial judgment, however.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/20/05 07:38 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (4)
03 July 2005
Sunday Chron editorial page recycles "olds"
James Howard Gibbons must have been really eager to get out of the offices at 801 Texas Avenue on Friday to get started on a long weekend, because he certainly left a dud of an editorial page for Sunday readers.
There's a staff editorial that argues the U.S. needs to lower its dependence on oil, a cutting-edge notion.
There's a staff editorial that criticizes conservative city council member Addie Wiseman for the suggestion that perhaps the city ought to be interested in whether or not vulgar and/or obscene material is being broadcast on its public access channel. The same editorial board that favors restricting some political speech erroneously says the First Amendment means anything goes on public access; it does not. (Personally, I think it would be fun if devout Christians took over the channel and began proselytizing in the wee hours of the morning, just to see how quickly the editorial board would reverse course.)
There are the usual Sunday snoozers from Cragg Hines and Clay Robison.
And then there are the items chosen by Gibbons and crew to fill out the editorial page.
Four of those stand out: We can all learn from LBJ, Ev by Jack Valenti, Tom Cruise: You are out of control by Brooke Shields, Running away from America, until I stopped by Kennedy School student Fatina Abdrabboh, and Betting our future on the mirage of endless Saudi oil by Hubbert Peak enthusiast Michael T. Klare.
Valenti's op-ed first appeared in the New York Times on 24 June 2005.
Shields' op-ed first appeared in the New York Times on 1 July 2005.
As David Benzion points out, Abdrabboh's op-ed first appeared in the New York Times on 23 June 2005, and has been widely derided across the blogosphere.
Klare's op-ed first appeared in the Los Angeles Times on 27 June 2005. Klare is one of many Hubbert Peak enthusiasts who take disputed geological facts, make a series of (frequently unstated) economic and political assumptions, and then predict calamity in the very near future. Alan at Petrified Truth alerts us to Mr. Klare's association with any number of leftist political organizations, associations that go unmentioned in the op-ed and byline but that are not irrelevant given the political and economic assumptions involved.
All of these op-eds are old -- really old, in internet time.
James Howard Gibbons, who once lectured bloggers on the superiority of editorial pages in their ideal state, ought to be embarrassed that he put out this collection of "olds" and otherwise mediocre opinion writing in a Sunday edition, holiday weekend or not. Even if he is not, one would think folks higher up the food chain at Hearst might be concerned.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/03/05 07:00 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
09 August 2006
Is Lee Brown running the Chronicle's remodeling project?
In this week's Houston Press, Rich Connelly notes that a big downtown booster isn't exactly leading by example:
Just off Market Square, near the center of the area that's supposed to be triggering a downtown revival, one property owner has persisted in keeping up ugly, sidewalk-blocking scaffolding and barriers.
The eyesores have been there for more than two years; the property owner, not satisfied with simply annoying downtown visitors, also at one point failed to pay thousands of dollars in permit fees -- more than a year's worth of payments to the city. When the city asked to see their plans to determine how long the unsightly project would continue, the property owner blew them off and didn't respond.Sounds like a story you'd read about in the Houston Chronicle, which has tirelessly pushed every scheme, no matter how harebrained, to rejuvenate downtown Houston and has been harsh on those deemed insufficiently civic-minded.
But maybe you won't read that story, because the property owner in question is the Houston Chronicle.
The Chron is replacing the exterior facade and modernizing its offices at 801 Texas, a spokeswoman says. The project should take another 14 months "once required permits are obtained," she says.
Wes Johnson, spokesman for the city's public works department, says the paper first asked permission for the "sidewalk covers" in 2004. "About a year later," he says, "we asked them if they were going to continue with this because their permit was running out -- they said, 'Yeah, we are; we'll get back to you' -- well, they didn't."
Maybe James Howard Gibbons could write an Editorial LiveJournal about it!
Of course, the Chronicle editorial page is about as timely as the Chronicle remodeling project, so it may not appear for a while.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/09/06 10:35 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
18 May 2005
Coven-obsessed Chron editorialist misstates filibuster rule
The Chronicle's Coven-obsessed D.C. editorialist seems so determined to rant against conservatives that he's been turning out even weaker columns than usual of late.
Last weekend, he penned that editorial on Yalta that was light on fact and heavy on feelings.
So, we're about to have what could be some historic fireworks, when Frist seeks approval of President Bush's judicial nominations by a majority vote without getting the four-fifths vote required to end a filibuster.
That would be three-fifths, but why interrupt the ranting and name-calling with facts?
Surely this is not what James Howard Gibbons considers an editorial in an ideal state.
RELATED: Obligatory Jihad reference (Brothers Judd), A weekly serving of Cragg (Isolated Desolation).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/18/05 01:26 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (11)
24 December 2005
Metro gets an F-
Laurence Simon had quite a Friday night, thanks to Metro. It included walking 4.5 miles!
Do you suppose George DeMontrond, Frank Wilson, David Wolff or Mayor White have ever used Metro's services?
Privatize Metro!
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: But how can this be? Just a few days ago, the Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists wrote:
It was important for Metro to register increased ridership at this moment. If the transit agency can't furnish an attractive alternative to single-passenger commuting in an era of spiking fuel costs and an influx of hurricane evacuees needing transportation, the agency cannot be relied upon to play a decisive role in increasing Houstonians' mobility while reducing congestion and pollution.
Perhaps as important as the ridership gain, Metro has been able to keep its budget static, matching higher fuel costs with increased efficiency. High fuel prices are a mixed curse for Metro. While its operating costs go up, so does the number of riders, who help to defray the cost.
In order to build on its momentum, Metro is moving ahead on five rail line expansions, some of which initially will accommodate rubber-tired vehicles. It is looking to churches and other private venues to help it swiftly expand Park and Ride service. It is becoming partners with retail outlets and other private businesses to enhance the transit experience, encourage a healthier, pedestrian lifestyle and thus further increase ridership. As service improves and energy costs remain high, Houstonians owe it to themselves to give public transit a try.
It is difficult to imagine people more out of touch with Houston and Houstonians than the Editorial LiveJournalists who wrote that.
Indeed, we can recall the petulant outburst from James Howard Gibbons when the editorial page's Chief LiveJournalist was inconvenienced by the sort of ineptitude that normal Houstonians who aren't in charge of an editorial page simply have to deal with.
Can you imagine the hissyfit Mr. Gibbons would have thrown if he had to walk 4.5 miles due to METRO's increased efficiency?!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/24/05 09:08 AM | Houston Transit | Technorati | Comments (6)
19 January 2005
Chron SAFEclear editorial: Better late than never?
On January 9 (and in subsquent posts), we criticized SAFEclear advisor and political science professor Bob Stein's admission that one key assumption in the original SAFEclear program was that the cars of some motorists would be seized and resold by SAFEclear wrecker companies looking to recover the big licensing fees paid to the city.
That admission as much as anything sent talk radio hosts and irate citizens into overdrive, and Mayor White announced revisions to the program shortly thereafter.
Today, the Chronicle inveighs against Stein's admission, a full ten days after this blog criticized it and talk radio took the criticism to another level:
Bob Stein, one of the program's designers, said tow truck operators on the east side were likely to make their profit by impounding and eventually selling the cars of Houstonians too poor to afford the towing charges.
No public service should be predicated on the confiscation of essential property, perhaps leaving low-income workers no way to get to and from work. The revisions before council would reduce the number of occasions that would happen.
We understand from interim editorial page editor James Howard Gibbons that he is enamored with editorials "in their ideal state," but trailing blogs and talk radio by ten days on such a hot local issue doesn't seem ideal (or timely) -- especially when the Chronicle's own news staff originally reported the Stein comments!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/19/05 10:36 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
20 June 2005
Letters editor joins the Editorial LiveJournal act
We've commented previously (and too frequently) on the Editorial LiveJournal escapades of the Chronicle editorial board's resident Platonist, James Howard Gibbons.
Today, letters editor Judy Minshew gets in on the act with a rambling "Sounding Board" column that we prefer to characterize as an Editorial LiveJournal. Here's a sample of her diary-like post about her grandson, class structure in American life, college degrees, and a half dozen other things:
The last time I was in Fort Worth, I took Mike and some of his friends to a party at a home that was undoubtedly worth $3 million. In a posh, gated community, the house was not only huge but beautiful. After meeting the host parents and coordinating with them on what time I would return, I went out to dinner. Later, after taking the other boys home, I asked Mike if he knew what the family did for a living. He said the father "manages his 'investments.' "
I laughed out loud: No kidding! With a house that size, a pool as big as my back yard and a media room to rival Steven Spielberg's, I'm sure he stays quite busy managing his investments. If Mike thinks he can live that lifestyle, he's going to need several of those advanced degrees!
Of course I don't know what his future will be or if it will be necessary for him to get a degree to be successful — I know others who didn't and are. But with graduation so close, he's going to have to make the academic most of every minute between now and then.
We have nothing against Miss Minshew, aside from the fact that some of her decisions on the letters page are just baffling.
However, this writing really doesn't belong on the editorial page of a serious newspaper. There's a better place for such writing.
CALLIE MARKANTONIS ADDS: What the heck was that about? That's five minutes of my life I'll never get back.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/20/05 08:52 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
20 January 2005
An editorial page survey of inaugural commentary
The Chronicle's interim editorial page editor James Howard Gibbons made some curious decisions with today's editorial page.
The Chronicle chose not to devote a staff editorial to the second inauguration of President Bush.
Instead, one staff editorial noted that scandals continue to taint the legacy of former Mayor Lee Brown (more on this Chron "discovery" later), and the other staff editorial asserted that, "emotion aside, the United States and France have little choice but to cooperate on every level," while getting in a petty dig at Texans who chose to boycott French goods for a time.
Gibbons did decide to run a highly critical op-ed by Harold Meyerson that denigrates the President and the state of Texas, while extolling that Texan warrior on poverty and the north Vietnamese, Lyndon Baines Johnson. The piece originally appeared in the Washington Post, which had the good sense to run it yesterday, rather than on inaugural day. Meyerson is a staunch liberal who regularly writes for the American Prospect and LA Weekly.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/20/05 11:10 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
22 July 2006
Chron: Choose the symphony (over TMI)
The Editorial LiveJournalists today argue that great cities must have great symphony orchestras, lest we all lapse into sloth:
To compete against movies, television, video games and other forms of popular entertainment, the Houston Symphony has added screens on which to project images of the musicians during their performance. It has engaged in marketing programs to bring young listeners to its graying, arthritic audience. It has leavened its core curriculum of 19th century Romantic compositions with scores from contemporary composers, some of whom show an acquaintance with melody and harmony.
In order to succeed, however, the symphony's efforts must be matched by a commitment from every Houstonian who views the performing arts as an essential part of an educated person's life and learning and a refuge from this era's galloping coarseness and vulgarity.
Well, if they're arguing that the Houston Symphony is an escape from the Chronicle's galloping coarseness and vulgarity, we certainly agree with the Editorial LiveJournalists!
Interestingly, the Symphony under Christophe Eschenbach's direction really established itself as a serious, up-and-coming orchestra among the elitists who carefully analyze such things. However, Eschenbach's embrace of the atonality of the Second Viennese School probably didn't win the symphony many younger adherents (it certainly didn't win me over). If James Howard Gibbons and crew are suggesting that the Symphony since Eschenbach's departure has reacquainted itself with melody and harmony, that's welcome news indeed.
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/22/06 09:04 PM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Comments (2)
17 July 2005
Stale editorial page: An ongoing Chron series!
For the past couple of Sundays, we've pointed out that the Chronicle's opinion pages were a little stale, with all sorts of content previously published in major newspapers.
We were hoping James Howard Gibbons might take the hint and try to freshen up the pages a bit -- perhaps even bring in some fresh blood like Mark Steyn, whose columns do not appear in many American newspapers.
Instead, Gibbons seems to have entirely missed the point we were making. Today, plenty of stale content appears. And now, the authors' bylines contain short notes explaining in which major newspaper their columns first appeared!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/17/05 09:42 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (0)
03 November 2006
France is the ideal state! (cont'd)
Yesterday, the humorless Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists came to the rousing defense of ... France [insert your own joke here], whose honor they apparently feel was insulted by Rick Perry's "Mr. Way too liberal for Texas guy" spoof of Chris Bell:
It's Perry, though, whose ad wins the grand prix for foreigner-bashing. This week his campaign debuted the magisterial "Mr. Way Too Liberal for Texas Guy" ad. In it, an announcer derides Democratic contender Chris Bell for being too much ... like France. "And you voted to let the United Nations oversee elections in America because no one stands up for democracy like the French ... So wear your fancy beret with pride, Congressman Bell."
Poor, humorless James Howard Gibbons. I think he's still smarting from Matt Bramanti's assessment of the "ideal state."
I've written elsewhere that I think this ad of Perry's is one of the best I've seen/heard in a while. A few days ago, an AP story that ran in the Chronicle had this to say:
ANALYSIS: Perry hits a home run with this hilarious spoof on a jingle for light beer. It's bound to appeal to voters of all political stripes, especially young people familiar with Bud Light's "Real Men of Genius" ad campaign. After all, who likes paying taxes? Or berets? The ad is especially brilliant because it lets Perry attack Bell for the third time on air without coming across as a negative nag. Of all the mud Perry could have slung as failed presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry stumped for Bell in Austin on Friday, this was the perfect tone to take. Between the ad itself and the watercooler chatter sure to follow, Perry is bound to grab the attention, and possibly even support, of many people who hadn't given much thought to the governor's race.
FACT CHECK: It's hard to even think about whether the accusations are true when you're rolling on the floor laughing, but there are some question marks....
Unlike the Editorial LiveJournalists, the AP writer apparently did not see the need to go on to defend the French. She was probably laughing too hard. The Editorial LiveJournalists should try it sometime. It's therapeutic!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/03/06 10:36 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
25 April 2005
A public-service suggestion from the Houston-area coven
The blog has been a little quiet tonight, as Anne and I have been in a conclave with other members of the Houston-area coven.
We've been trying to come up with a solution to METRO's Park and Pillage problem.
Really.
No security presence in the lots, but a Task Force and Crime Stoppers!
We weren't satisfied with that. So we've conjured a few spells. We've looked into the crystal ball. We've even re-read Reagan's famous 1964 speech (being a "hard-right" coven and all).
And we think we've come up with a much better proposal.
Much like the volunteers of the Minuteman Project are guarding the border with Mexico because the government has abdicated its responsibility to do so, we propose that Houstonians form a voluntary security detail for the Park and Rides, since METRO has basically said you're on your own if you choose to use their lots. Just to give METRO grief and prompt James Howard Gibbons to write a new LiveJournal entry, we propose limiting the security detail to volunteers with concealed-carry permits.
Now, before anyone starts complaining that we're advocating vigilante justice -- that's not what we're advocating at all. We don't actually want anyone shot. We think a local Minuteman Project would simply provide a deterrent to thieves and vandals that METRO isn't providing at the moment. Or, the very thought of it will scare METRO into staffing the Park and Rides with security, like they should be doing already.
So that's the Houston-area coven's public-service suggestion for the evening.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/25/05 11:13 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (6)
12 March 2006
Chron explains last week's embarrassing editorial
Chron Reader Rep. James Campbell has a column in today's Outlook section on that embarrassing editorial oops from last Sunday. He also wrote a blog post about it last week and the comments are quite illuminating.
We learn that the Outlook section is finalized on Friday night so it can be delivered on Saturday in the Sunday paper. Phew! That's rather dinosaur-ish.
We also learn that the editorial writer did NOT watch the videos (that were alongside the story), as the editorial implied. Instead Campbell says the Editorial LiveJournalist writer researched other news stories to come up with his/her editorial. Kinda funny, eh? A news person getting burned by bad reporting in other news outlets!
Those of us who watched the videos (that were alongside the story) could see that the AP's account of what was on the videos didn't accurately reflect what was on the videos.
It's also odd that the Editorial LiveJournalist writer didn't see fit to mention the subsequent AP story that had Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco telling President Bush that the levees had not been breached. That story was out well before the Friday-written editorial was put to bed. Some research!
And we learn that editorial page Editor James Howard Gibbons was on vacation and should not be held responsible for what happened. Er, except that we have seen plenty of instances where Chronicle editorials have called for President Bush to be held responsible for things that have been out of his control (especially when he's on vacation in Crawford!). Check out Sedosi for the latest example of that.
Toward the end of Campbell's column he writes:
A church/state separation exists between the editorial board and the newsroom. It probably never occurred to the copy desk editor to contact the editorial board or vice versa about the correction. Of course, this kind of territorial divide can make for some interesting and embarrassing blindsides, as was the case this time.
A church/state separation? Maybe it's time to knock down that (not in the Constitution) wall.
And:
We issued a correction of the editorial on Tuesday that read: "An editorial on Page E2 of Sunday's Chronicle repeated an error in an Associated Press story. A White House video showed President Bush being warned that floodwaters could flow over New Orleans' levees. He was not told the levees could be breached."
Ah yes. The teensy weensy correction box on the bottom of page 2. And the original editorial still doesn't note the correction.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/12/06 07:52 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (5)
24 April 2005
Casey mimics editorial board on political speech
We've noted before that the column of the Chronicle's Rick Casey is frequently used to flesh out and develop opinions that are taken by the Chronicle editorial board.
Thus, it was hardly surprising on Friday when Rick Casey devoted an entire column to a political campaigning scenario that then got him to this conclusion:
These corporations are forbidden by law to contribute to [Rick Perry's] political campaign, but they can contribute to "issues" ads.
In practical reality, these ads would be part of Perry's campaign for re-election.
Maybe it's better for our elected officials to pay lobbyists than to be in debt to them.
Recall that the Houston Chronicle editorial board has, several times, come out in favor of legislation being considered in Austin that would ban certain "issues" ads. And note how Rick Casey's Friday column cleverly tied such "issues" ads to Chronicle "bad guy" Rick Perry.
There's a reason Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen wasted no time in getting Rick Casey to Houston. He's reliable, and he's good at what he does. Readers can decide for themselves whether it's good journalism, but Casey is rarely (if ever?) out of step with the editorial board on their issues, and consistently fleshes out that perspective on the "news" pages. It's not subtle to careful readers, but it's effective.
Turning back to the "issues" ads that Casey and the editorial board are attacking, we'd just like to remind Houstonians that this is yet another example of their local newspaper criticizing the political speech of others, while continuing to advocate special privileges for professional journalists.
That, in our view, serves a very special interest (the Chronicle and other "professional" journalism outfits), but not the public interest.
Further, if the Chronicle is as philosophically opposed to "issue" ads as they say, we'll be looking forward to a Cragg Hines/Clay Robison/Rick Casey/James Howard Gibbons denouncement of the "issue-oriented" activities of the Center for American Progress. Philosophical consistency would seem to demand no less from the Chronicle.
So long as there is disclosure of funding sources, we don't mind those ads or other issue ads. Indeed, we tend to think of it quaintly as political speech. Then again, we try to practice some degree of consistency here, and don't merely craft our posts to attack "bad guys" or advance pet causes. Maybe the Chronicle could learn from that example?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/24/05 10:43 AM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
23 November 2008
Andrea Georgsson has left the Chronicle
Andrea Georgsson, the Houston Chronicle editorial board member who apparently violated newspaper policy by donating to political candidates, has left the newspaper.
Georgsson left the newspaper just after the election, according to this column from Richard Prince:
Andrea Georgsson, the only African American editorial writer at the Houston Chronicle, left the paper Wednesday after being at the paper since 1987 and a member of the editorial board since 1995. "It was my own decision," Georgsson told Journal-isms. "I'm going to just follow my bliss," Georgsson, 44, said. She said she has three little boys to take care of and may do volunteer work.
Media monitor Cision (as well as Georgsson's own Facebook page) confirms the departure:
Longtime Houston Chronicle staffer leaves
Posted on: 11/10/2008Andrea Georgsson recently left her post as an editorial page writer for the Houston Chronicle. She previously served as an education reporter. Prior to that, she covered Harris County and state news. She joined the paper as an intern in 1987. To learn more, call 713-362-7171.
If anyone calls the number, please let us know if you "learn more." We would be surprised.
Recall that we found Georgsson had donated to the Harris County Judge campaign of David Mincberg (not to mention the presidential campaign of Barack Obama). Such donations apparently violate newspaper policy, and for good reason -- it is hard for an editorial board to preach transparency for others when it doesn't practice what it preaches. Even worse than the lack of transparency, it is thought that Georgsson penned at least one editorial about Harris County ethics (which referenced Ed Emmett, the incumbent opponent of Mincberg) -- an editorial that was quickly posted to Mincberg's campaign site.
The Houston Chronicle refused to answer substantive email queries about Georgsson in the leadup to the election, and has not addressed the scandal publicly. On the surface, it appears that Georgsson left the newspaper of her own accord. It seems likely, however, that both she and the newspaper concluded that it would be best for all if she moved on. We would email the reader representative and ask, but we have yet to see evidence that he actually uses email.
It's too bad that the Chronicle didn't take the opportunity to practice what it preaches about transparency and to inform readers about the scandal. Chronicle execs like to describe the editorial board as leading a community discussion, but more often it seems like the insular editorialists are simply lecturing to the community, without much interest in an actual conversation.
And it's not even a very good lecture these days. In recent weeks, the editorial board -- sans Georgsson and James Howard Gibbons -- has turned out some truly clunky prose. We certainly didn't agree wth Georgsson or Gibbons on most issues, but who knew their departures would give readers even less cause to visit a so-so, left-leaning editorial page?
Perhaps it's another reason for the Editorial Board to start a blog (as we've suggested before). Even poor writers can get better if they really work at the craft (practice, practice, practice!). Frequent blog posts on local affairs could be just the sort of practice that is needed. And who knows -- a little interaction with readers might actually improve a product that could use it.
BLOGVERSATION: Lone Star Times, Hair Balls.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 11/23/08 08:11 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
22 December 2006
Slampo rains on the Project Row Houses parade
Crazy bloggers.
Sometimes they just can't resist providing a little... what is that word?
Perspective. Yeah, that's it. But I've gotten a little ahead of myself.
Backtrack to December 17, when the New York Times ran a fawning feature on Houston's Project Row Houses.
Not to be outdone, the Editorial LiveJournalists swung into action for the Chronicle's December 20 edition:
The Third Ward, and the whole city, got an early Christmas gift this month when City Council approved a $975,000 grant to Project Row Houses. The "zero interest performance-based loan,"as it's called, allows founder Rick Lowe and his staff to add 16 low-income rental units to their nonprofit complex.
The project's swath of Holman Street "may be the most impressive and visionary public art project in the country," the New York Times declared on Sunday. But the project's import is hardly news to the 150 artists who have worked from its restored shotgun house/studios, or the 40 young mothers who have moved toward self-sufficiency in the project's affordable-housing units. It's also little surprise to the ever-rippling circles of Third Ward residents and other Houstonians who've been nourished by visits to the place.
While practically gushing over the "zero interest performance-based loan" (known to some as a giveaway -- and an interesting priority for Mayor White and his Council), the Editorial LiveJournalists neglected one very interesting bit of news that did not escape the notice of Houston's best blogger, Slampo:
And somehow, in its giddy celebration of Project Row Houses’ big score at City Hall, the Chronicle failed to note a somewhat discouraging word about the project that was buried back in the newspaper a month ago. That was the “news” that Project Row House’s longtime financial director, Lajuanda Malone, had pleaded guilty to felony theft of more than $200,000 from the nonprofit and was tagged, as the paper put it in an uncharacteristically raffish turn of phrase, with “10 years in the state penitentiary” (is there not more than one?).
That's surely interesting! And Slampo has more. More perspective, if you will. A needed perspective on this story that's curiously missing from any MSM outlet in town.
It's good that sometimes lowly bloggers can supply some of that, even if they don't reside in the ideal state of one James Howard Gibbons.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/22/06 10:49 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (4)
11 June 2008
Chron Editorial LiveJournalist still piqued over leftover rejection?
Some time ago, Chron Editorial LiveJournalist Andrea Georgsson lamented on the Chronicle editorial page that none of her neighbors wanted her leftovers when her electric went out.
The outrage!
She may still be upset (and unstable), judging from this unsigned editorial today:
Waste not
This nation of fatties who throw out tons of food is beginning to stop taking meals for granted
The newspaper is full of stories of rising food prices, more demand for food assistance through food pantries and sharply lower food donations to feed growing numbers of hungry people — not to mention violent unrest provoked by unaffordable prices and scarcity. From this, a small bright side is emerging: Americans are taking renewed interest in curtailing the massive amount of food wasted everyday.
In the lean years of the Great Depression, families would not dream of throwing away perfectly edible food. But economic times improved, and modern agriculture production and distribution methods created a cheap and plentiful supply of meats, grains and produce. Today, cleaning one's plate to avoid wasting a morsel has given way to wasteful all-you-can-eat buffets, outsized portions and leftovers that are thrown out rather than eaten. The moldering contents of office fridges across the land tell the story of a people who by and large take food for granted and are indifferent to its waste.
The last time the Department of Agriculture reported on how much food goes to waste each year was in 1997. That study found that Americans toss out or let rot an astonishing 96.4 billion pounds of the 356 billion pounds of edible food produced, according to the May 18 New York Times. Milk, fresh produce, grain-based foods and sugars, the Times said, comprised two-thirds of the waste.
Some of the tossed food is table scraps. Some is left to rot in fields. A shocking amount is composed of restaurant and grocery discards that are 100 percent edible. They are fruits and vegetables with minor blemishes, dented canned goods, still-fresh dairy products discarded on sell-by dates that are widely viewed to be overly conservative, and trays of never-touched prepared dishes that didn't sell.
She had to be DYING to work her unwanted leftover London Broil into the editorial!
Calling the US a "nation of fatties" was a nice touch, though -- surely a demonstration of the "elegance, wit and insight one looks for in ... editorial pages in their ideal state," as Chief Editorial LiveJournalist James Howard Gibbons once put it.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/11/08 11:25 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
21 May 2005
The Casey LiveJournal Monologues, blogged
Some time ago, we noted that Chronicle columnist Rick Casey would be speaking to the Harris County Democratic Party.
Certainly, journalists are welcome to speak to groups -- even political groups -- to promote their news organization and their work, whether it's Rick Casey speaking to Democrats or Dan Feldstein speaking to conservative-activist talk-radio listeners (an appearance scheduled and then canceled).
However, it's extremely useful to news consumers to know what those journalists actually say when out and about. Thus, the Houston Democrats blog has performed a fine service to news consumers and media watchers alike in Houston by recounting Casey's remarks. Here's a sample:
Rick says there is a new nationl religion: God wants you to be rich. If you are not rich, you are not with God. Basically, the right wing would like to do away with CHIP, Medicaid, and the school fund. Instead religion says we should worship markets.Markets aren't all bad, but Rick cautioned that we should consider how to make markets do what they do well and to tame them so they do. The rich say we do not have to do anything to manage markets. The poor just have to get with God, and that will solve their problems. Rick noted that at one time it was the blacks who were not believed to be with God, now it's the poor.
Essentially, the right wing has stollen the identity of Chritianity and turned it against the "non-believers." Rick asked how is it that God wants us to have a 3-5% revenue cap?
It's certainly provocative and informative reading.
Casey's columns regularly lean to the left, and we have pointed out occasions when he seems willing to flesh out details on issues that are of interest to the editorial board. The fact that he is a columnist on the news pages, but regularly offers editorial opinion in his column, seems not to be a concern to anyone at the Chronicle, although it's not clear to me why his column doesn't run on the editorial page where it belongs.
Of course, if he were moved there, the lack of balance on the editorial page would be even more striking (Cragg Hines, Clay Robison, and Casey as the staff writers on the Left, not to mention James Howard Gibbons, Andrea Georgsson, and Mr. Kathryn Kase representing liberal pet causes in unsigned editorials -- with no identifiable local conservatives writing regularly), and the laughable claim that the editorial position is "not liberal or conservative" would be that much harder to take seriously. One does feel sorry for actual reporters who have to share the news pages with Casey, though.
RELATED: My double-top-secret agenda (Rob Booth, Lone Star Times), Pay no attention to that columnist behind the veil (Sedosi Alhambra, Isolated Desolation).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/21/05 10:33 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (1)
18 January 2006
Flawed Chron/Murray/Stein survey continues to draw attention (updated)
David Benzion posts that Dr. David Hill of Hill Research Consultants was interviewed yesterday by Fox News (national) about the flaws in that poll on Tom DeLay that the Chronicle rushed to the field following a spate of bad press for DeLay.
Benzion shares some of the points made by Dr. Hill in his blog post, and suggests that the interview may get some play on Special Report with Brit Hume today. Hill is a nationally respected pollster from The Woodlands.
Hill's critique comes after Chris Wilson of Wilson Research Strategies criticized elements of the survey and the Chronicle's characterization of the results on Edd Hendee's morning program on KSEV-700 yesterday.
As Chris Elam notes, some of the most useful, detailed criticism in print so far has come from Evan at DeLay vs World (with some further discussion here). Unfortunately, that's off the radar of some bigshot national bloggers. That's okay. We're more than happy to help with your hyperlocal blogging needs.
UPDATE: Benzion posts a sneering response by the Chronicle's main Editorial LiveJournalist, James Howard Gibbons, to a Jack Rains email to the Chronicle editorial page. As we've seen lately, emotions seem to be getting the best of some editors at the Chronicle lately.
UPDATE 2: Dr. Hill was not on the Brit Hume show. I don't know what happened.
Evan at DeLay vs World posts more thoughts on the flaws in the Chron/Murray/Stein survey. And make no mistake -- the combination of the poll's methodology and the subsequent interpretation is deeply flawed.
And the Chronicle reader representative completely ignores legitimate criticism of the survey that has been raised by two pollsters who actually make a living at doing political polling (instead of doing it as a hobby while teaching), as well as several blogs. Instead, the Chronicle reader representative posts DeLay campaign emails as indicative of the criticism of the flawed Chronicle/Murray/Stein survey, and posts a "rebuttal" from a Chronicle political editor that isn't a rebuttal at all (and actually makes the Chronicle look more clueless). That's deceptive.
Murray and Stein need either to admit their survey is flawed, or answer their critics. We're not their undergraduates. They can't just tell us to go away because they are (self-)important people with tenure. Both the Chronicle and these academics owe the critics of this flawed survey an explanation of why they think the critics are wrong, or an admission that the critics have a point.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/18/06 01:50 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Comments (5)
26 April 2005
Increasingly personal journalism from the Chronicle?
The Chronicle's makeover seems not to have ended with the big layout changes that reduced the amount of actual information in the paper in favor of more text boxes and graphics.
We've been noticing that, more and more, serious journalism is being displaced by what we've deemed the LiveJournal approach -- all sorts of personal accounts taking up space where we'd prefer to see harder news.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/26/05 10:40 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Comments (3)
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