Editorialists whitewash mayor's treatment of MediaSource
Yesterday, the Chronicle editorialists engaged in revisionism regarding Council's decision not to renew the MediaSource contract:
Already hit by criticism from both conservative council members and Mayor Bill White for the quality of its programming, the nonprofit Houston MediaSource cable television channel management got another shock. Contrary to expectation, City Council refused to renew MediaSource's $800,000 annual contract, despite the mayor's support for continued funding.
Criticism from Mayor Bill White? That's laughable.
When Councilmember Wiseman first brought the matter to Council's attention, Mayor White and allies on Council acted perturbed. As evidence that Mayor White's attitude really hasn't changed, here is a quote from Doug Miller's reporting on the decision not to renew the MediaSource contract:
"It's not the kind of thing, frankly, that I spent much attention on or stay up worrying at night," White said. "I think if people don't want to watch the public access channel they ought to turn it off. I don't think I've ever watched it."
It seems that Mayor White is still more perturbed with councilmembers who hold different views than of MediaSource itself.
Here is more from the editorialists:
Mayor White subsequently appointed a new majority on the 15-member access channel board. He said he favors new policies to solicit higher quality programming from area organizations to replace the sometimes crude productions the channel features during late night hours. One of the new board members is Mustafa Tameez, who also serves as a political consultant for the mayor's campaign. White supported continued funding of MediaSource while the new board decides whether management changes are needed.
Appointing new members to the board wasn't that dramatic a move for Mayor White, since the terms of the members he was "replacing" had already expired. In itself, appointing new members to the board wouldn't necessarily address Councilmember Wiseman's concerns, which is presumably why she favored tougher contractual language to hold MediaSource to account. And the mayor's appointment of a paid political consultant to the board seems unusual, as did the editorial board's placement of that information in the cited paragraph.
At this point, it's probably time to find a better, less controversial custodian for the public access channel.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/18/05 10:20 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (1)
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