Who broke the $AFEclear background check story?
Yesterday KSEV-700 afternoon host Dan Patrick came out against $AFEclear, because of the news that criminal background checks had not been done on $AFEclear tow truck drivers, and when the checks were finally done, it was discovered some drivers had felony backgrounds. Patrick became aware of this development, he said, because of a KRIV-26 story on Monday night.
Today Patrick is indignant because he doesn't think this story is getting the play it should at other media outlets around town. He said KRIV broke this story Monday night, he said the Chronicle hasn't given it the coverage it deserves (although the Chronicle ran a story on it last Saturday), and he said some local radio stations need to talk about it (we can guess what station he's referring to). He said that KSEV, KRIV and Lone Star Times are covering the story.
I must point out that KPRC-2 broke this story last Tuesday and we noted it last Tuesday. Last week, Chris Baker mentioned this topic on his show. It didn't take up an entire four hour show, but I do remember him mentioning it.
We're pleased more news outlets are picking up this story, but let's give credit where it's due, on who's covering what.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS: Obviously, Dan Patrick is not reading blogHOUSTON! He should give it a try. It's the blog for all the cool political and media types. :)
RELATED: On being a part of the blogosphere (Liberty's Blog)
KEVIN WHITED ADDS MORE (11:49 pm): The web publisher and talk radio host has now expanded today's radio rant to a wild blog post calling out local media for covering up this story. I'll excerpt generously, since this post may well disappear at some point:
However, even more outragious than the Mayor and the council continuing the program under these circumstances, is the fact that most of the media in Houston is ignoring the story. I think the people of Houston have a right to know about the potential danger; my brothers in the media apparently feel differently.
I watched the news last night and scanned the channels. I may have missed a short mention somewhere, but I did not see 13, 11
or 2 even mention the issue of criminals in the program. This story should have been the lead local story. The Chronicle did not even mention this side of the story in their article this morning. How is it that the media is refusing to report on what is clearly a story of public interest and a scandal at city hall?The answer is troubling by any standard. One answer is they are unaware of the story and it's potential danger to the citizens. The second answer is that they don't want to make the Mayor mad at them because they preceive he will be Mayor for the next 5 years and don't want to make him an enemy. The last reason, which I believe is the biggest reason they are burying the story, is really frightening; they are jealous that a competitor, Fox News 26, broke the story.
KRIV-26 didn't break the story! It's a week old, as Anne pointed out above, and as she pointed out when the story was posted first by KPRC-2.
Indeed, one week ago, Dan Patrick and the KSEV crew were still solidly behind the $AFEclear program, apparently unaware of the problems with criminals they now find so problematic!
Let me reiterate -- some people should include not only blogHOUSTON in their daily news/opinion consumption, but other basic news sources in Houston as well. We recommend it as the perfect preventative to embarrassing experiences like this.
CALLIE MARKANTONIS ADDS: I found this part of Dan Patrick's post interesting:
For the Chronicle and the other local TV stations to report this story they have to admit they missed it. (Channel 11 did do a small report after 26 on Tuesday) They do not want to give credit to a competitor. This is standard operating procedure in our industry.
When I interned in a tv newsroom, it was NOT standard operating procedure to bury news the competition got to first, but to go get it as well if it was important. However, it IS standard operating procedure in the blogosphere to link to blog posts one discusses, and not have those links mysteriously disappear.
ANNE ADDS: I guess I also need to point out that KHOU-11 ran a story on the background checks on Monday. Patrick says in his LST post that KHOU did a story on Tuesday after KRIV "broke" the background check story. You can click on the link and see the timestamp for yourself when KHOU posted its story. I do not recall if KTRK-13 did a story on the background checks and a search of KTRK's site did not produce anything.
Patrick may have just discovered this issue, but most local media outlets have been on top of it for days now.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS (02-03-2005): Patrick has updated his post to explain that he was right all along, and we were wrong. It's telling that he refuses to link to this post in his response. Readers, of course, can decide if this little blog got it right, or not. On two additional points referenced in the addendum -- we're working on getting a set of Arbitrons ourselves and will post raw data when we do, AND if we pull that off, we'll try and secure an interview with Ken Charles on his programming philosophy and ratings. I always intended this blog to run some interviews, but it just hasn't transpired yet.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS (02-04-2005): David Benzion emails that Patrick had instructed him to hyperlink this post, that neglecting it was an oversight, and that the hyperlink has been added. The bloggers here have been clamoring for a layer of management devoted to authoring hyperlinks, but our little blog doesn't generate revenues sufficient for such luxuries, alas, so I hope this news doesn't spark a revolt among the faithful here!
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/02/05 05:23 PM | Houston Media | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (14)
Previous Entry | Home | Next Entry
Trackback
Unfortunately, abusive spammers have forced us to disable incoming trackback pings. The Technorati link should list related posts. Feel free to drop us an email if you've linked a post and would like to let us know about it.
ADVERTISING
DISCLAIMER
All content © 2004-08, blogHOUSTON and the respective authors.
blogHOUSTON.net is powered by Nucleus.
Site design and Nucleus customization are by Kevin Whited.