Features style infects Chron business, sports sections
The Chronicle business section today ran a puff piece on a family that works at Continental Airlines. Here's an excerpt:
Crew members aboard Continental Airlines Flight 1683 from Houston to El Paso on Thursday will bring new meaning to being part of the Continental family.
That's because they really are family.
The unique crew will feature Capt. Dewey Lockwood Jr., the pilot, who will be joined in the cockpit by his son, Dewey Lockwood III, as first officer.
In the cabin will be the captain's wife, flight attendant Sandi Lockwood, her sister Nancy Cortez, also a flight attendant, and Nancy's husband, flight attendant Raymond Cortez.
Combined, the family has about 75 years of service at Houston-based Continental.
"This may be the first time in airline history that a single family group has crewed all the pilot and flight attendant positions on a flight," Capt. Lockwood said.
Or it may not. Who knows? Maybe the Chron could call up Southwest, and American, and Delta, and Northwest, and United, and see if they have any such delightful stories to share with the readers of the Hearst daily! Seriously, this appeared in the business (not features) section of a newspaper that considers itself a major daily.
Of course, the big business news of the day for the hometown airline was its order from Boeing, and fortunately we do have another source for serious reporting on Houston business.
Not to be outdone, the sports section ran a story on new Texans general manager Rick Smith:
Even Bobby Smith knew it was a big day for his daddy. Dressed in a blue-and-white striped suit with a white newsboy hat, the 3-year-old wanted to share in the moment.
He wrangled himself away from his mother Tiffany and right to the feet of his father, Rick Smith, who had just been announced as the second general manager in Texans' history Monday at Reliant Stadium.
He stood at his daddy's feet, looked up and said: "What about me? What about me?"
Toting his disposable camera, Bobby Smith wasn't able to grasp why everyone was huddling around his father with microphones and questions.
But as the years go by, he undoubtedly will be taught the significance of the moment.
Smith's status as only the second African-American general manager in the NFL is not insignificant, but that features-style introduction on the sports pages is nearly enough to make the eyes bleed.
Unfortunately, there is no sports print-journalism equivalent of the Houston Business Journal in town, so we apparently are stuck with this sort of features-style reporting.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/06/06 09:59 PM | Houston Chronicle | Print | Comments (5)
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