15 April 2008
Chron.com keeps it classy
A reader called our attention to the featured story on Chron.com last night.
As this screen capture illustrates, the featured story was about the top stolen cars in Houston, linking to this photo gallery. The link below ("Here's the full list: Are you worried?") goes to a Chron.com forum discussion. And the link below that ("Lost your car? Find another one here")? Right to the Chron.com car section.
Way to keep it classy, Chron.com, way to keep it classy.
As our reader noted with regard to the link to the car section,
I thought, no, no, no…this CAN’T be what I think it is….and it was, indeed, the car ads.
I know, I know, here’s how we can save journalism! Let’s all go out and steal cars so the car ads will increase in the Chronicle! That’s the ticket!
Don't give Jack Sweeney any ideas!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/15/08 06:44 PM |
10 April 2008
Chron adds to Harris County government beat
Earlier today, Matt Stiles introduced the Chronicle's new Harris County government reporter, Liz Peterson.
Tonight, she's posting away on the Houston Politics blog -- and is already asking more interesting questions than the Chron's metro/teen diarist:
Earlier this week, the Commissioners Court agreed to study whether Harris County should open a public defenders office.
I chatted with a local bail bondsman this morning about his experiences in and out of Harris County courtrooms. He didn't give the court-appointed attorneys a rave review: a 5 at the very best on a scale of 1 to 10. But he's done business in Dallas as well and doesn't think their public defenders office has done much better. And he questioned whether the county could really save money in the long run, after it pays the lawyers' salaries and benefits, not to mention the cost of office space and utilities.
He raises some interesting points. Will employees of a public defenders office be better trained and equipped to handle these cases? Will they care more? Or will the results largely be the same no matter what system the county employs?
Welcome to the local blogosphere, Ms. Peterson. It's good to have some new blood around here! We're looking forward to more reporters bringing questions to Harris County government.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/10/08 10:39 PM |
05 April 2008
Adventures in Chron headline writing (cont'd)
Matt Bramanti's keen eye spots a Chron headline that doesn't quite match the accompanying story.
Here's the headline:
And here's the story (with the relevant part in bold):
What meteorologists call a supercell thunderstorm passed across North Texas, damaging homes with hail the size of softball.
In Wise County, emergency dispatchers received two reports of damaged homes early this morning. A Wise County emergency dispatcher said one home had windows shattered because of hail and the other had its windows blow in by straight-line winds.
The dispatcher said there was hail the size of baseballs out at Decatur Airport and softball-sized hail at the sheriff's department.
We sometimes wonder if Chron headline writers are reading the same stories.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/05/08 02:31 PM |
30 March 2008
Medellin Take Two: Editorial LiveJournalists fail to cite nonexistent treaty
The Editorial LiveJournalists opined earlier in the week on the recent Supreme Court decision in Medellin v. Texas.
Unlike the last time they wrote about the matter, they didn't seem to create any new treaties this time.
Baby steps!
Today, the Chronicle runs an op-ed by Texas solicitor general Ted Cruz in defense of the decision. He didn't create any new treaties either.
The full text of the Medellin v. Texas decision is available here (registration required).
BLOGVERSATION: Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/30/08 08:56 PM |
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 @ 03/28/08 09:40 PM |
23 March 2008
Shutter the D.C. bureau (cont'd)
Kudos to Banjo Jones and the Brazosport News for picking up an absolute gem from Politico -- it seems that some of the D.C. press corps are ... bored:
[S]enioritis is common in the final months of any eight-year administration. But this year, said reporters, the historically important and just plain exciting presidential race, coupled with the minimalist agenda of an unpopular president, has led to overall Bush fatigue that outranks the waning days of the Clinton administration.
“You can’t attribute it all to the presidential campaign,” said Julie Mason, White House correspondent for the Houston Chronicle. “[Bush’s] rhetoric is so exhausted. He rarely makes any news. It’s rarely worth anyone’s time to cover him like we used to.”
In addition to covering the president, Mason often chronicled the White House press corps in photos on her blog. But now, Mason said, “I don’t do it as much because there’s nobody here.”
“You hear a lot of grumbling here from people who are stuck in the White House and not getting out on the campaign,” Mason added.
It must be tough getting up to go to work in the morning knowing that you're unlikely to add to your blog photo collection of your White House press corps mates.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/23/08 11:24 PM |
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 @ 03/21/08 07:39 AM |
16 March 2008
They may not have a Pulitzer, but they have their own awards!
In this week's Houston Press, Rich Connelly mocks the local Hearst daily for its full-page ads trumpeting the awards it gave its own people:
The Houston Chronicle offered up a full-page house ad March 7 honoring their award-winning journalists.
"We're Making Headlines, and Much More, For You! Award-Winning Journalism in Print & Online" blared the headline, over a collection of mugshots of the winners.
Winners of the paper's in-house contest, that is. Not the chain-wide Hearst contest, just a competition among the Chronsters. Including Peer Awards, voted by fellow employees.
This all seems one step above reporting on this year's Secret Santa operation, but the Chron thought it deserved a full page of space so readers could "join us in giving this year's recipients a big round of applause."
And so, the four people who put together the gardening blog, we salute you. And are grateful for the opportunity to read about your award.
This is certainly mock-worthy, but in my view it's not nearly as mock-worthy as the statement by the reader rep that party pictures are more important than news on the organization's website.
But that's just my opinion -- what do readers think?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/16/08 10:15 PM |
Chron reader rep: Online party pics much more important than actual news!
Here's a telling exchange between a Chronicle reader and the newspaper's little-seen reader representative:
READER: Do Chron editors read this column for suggestions/input? I would just like to mention that I do not enjoy the "party reports" that are featured on the front page. It seems that every day, or several times a day, the headlining online news is a picture of people in bars. I would like to see more news stories features, with articles written by your writers, rather than photo albums of barflies.
READER REP: Sorry, that's not going to happen. Whenever chron.com features one of those party reports, the traffic spikes like crazy. You appear to be one of the few readers that doesn't care for that coverage.
The second-rate newspaper frequently provides intelligent people with all sorts of reasons to mock it, but that crystal-clear statement of the local Hearst daily's online journalistic priorities ranks among the best.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/16/08 09:27 PM |
14 March 2008
Nothing like a decisive opening editorial paragraph...
The Chronicle Editorial Board, which is tasked with producing a whopping two editorials per day, came up with this winner of an opening paragraph today:
If Houston's air is to be cleaned and made safe to breathe, industry and government must work together. In some instances industry and government are working together, but toward the opposite end.
And that incoherence would be the intelligent reader's cue to stop reading.
Do any sections of the Chronicle have editors these days?
(Hat tip to Cory Crow for spotting this latest Chronsense).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/14/08 10:12 PM |
07 March 2008
Froot Loops Bureau helps out Chron sports section
We've wondered what happened to the Chronicle Froot Loops Bureau, which used to rewrite breaking local news seen on television in the mornings and post it to Chron.com.
It appears that the Froot Loops Bureau may have shifted to the sports section.
Yesterday, a reader passed along a New York Times story that reported the IRS was looking into a Houston-area gym as part of the Clemens steroid/HGH investigation. I furled the story, predicting that a Chron rewrite would probably appear shortly.
That prediction was only half-right. A version of the story by "Chronicle News Services" did indeed appear. However, the Froot Loops Bureau apparently couldn't even be bothered to rewrite it, instead changing a handful of words and otherwise directly ripping about half the story from the New York Times.
Weak.
At least the New York newspapers are keeping us up to speed on some of the local angles to this story. Now what is the name of the local Hearst daily again?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/07/08 05:33 PM |
05 March 2008
Better wait a few days before trying the recipes (cont'd)
As we've noted several times before, it's always good to wait a few days (for corrections) before trying any recipe that appears in the Chronicle.
Here's something from today's corrections that helps make the point:
A recipe for Fish in Leaves on Page F4 of today's Flavor section contains an error. It should call for 1 pound, 10 ounces of tilapia fillets.
Happy cooking (once you've checked the corrections)!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/05/08 10:37 PM |
Casey: Dem attention was great fun!
Chronicle metro/state columnist and resident plagiarist Rick Casey had an interesting admission in today's column:
Over the past two weeks, Texas Democrats have been wooed as never before.
Hillary and Barack have pressed their charms on us by air and by land and by cyberspace.
They've phoned us relentlessly, thrown gigantic parties for us, knocked on our doors.
They've sent scores of their friends to ask for our hands on their behalf.
They've done everything but send us flowers.
We never really doubted Mr. Casey's partisan preferences.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/05/08 10:09 PM |
03 March 2008
Sometimes, the headline is your cue to stop reading
Here's an actual headline from today's Chronicle editorial page:
No sacred cows: Complaints about no Tejano headliner seem thin, but rodeo officials should not lightly dismiss them
The logic within the editorial was no better than the logic of the headline (or should we say, it was equally contradictory).
Would it be too much to ask of professional writers employed to produce two opinions per day actually to have opinions? Pick one: "Complaints about no Tejano headliner don't have merit" -- or, "Complaints about no Tejano headliner do have merit." Then run with it.
BLOGVERSATION: Lose an Eye, It's a Sport.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/03/08 10:32 PM |
24 February 2008
It's a good thing newspapers are staffed with fact-checkers...
The Chronicle ran a correction that was notable for its length today:
An article in Feb. 18 editions repeated charges made by Republican candidate for Congress Dean Hrbacek that a law firm, Williams & Jensen, had ties to Jack Abramoff. The article also cited reports that the firm's managing partner, L. Steven Hart, traveled with a group of government officials and lobbyists to Scotland to play golf. After being contacted by Williams & Jensen concerning the accuracy of the article, the Houston Chronicle's re-examination has revealed that Hart's correct name is J. Steven Hart, that there is no credible evidence that Hart traveled to Scotland with government officials on one of Abramoff's trips or otherwise, and, also, that there is no credible evidence that Williams and Jensen has any "ties" to Abramoff or his lobbying activities.
Whoops!
BLOGVERSATION: Houston's Clear Thinkers.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/24/08 10:40 PM |
21 February 2008
Adventures in headline writing (cont'd)
The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto has a little fun with a Chron headline today:
How Many Voters Will Fit on a Swing?
"Bill Clinton Courts Texas Voters in Galveston Swing"--headline, Houston Chronicle, Feb. 20
This one is kind of fun too:
It is a mystery why professional editors working in 2008 don't use spell checkers.
And then there was the jaw-dropper that appeared on the Chron D.C. Bureau's blog earlier:
Somebody had the good sense to change that one after some critical comments, although it's stunning that it made it to the web in the first place.
Chron headline writing is always an adventure!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/21/08 09:20 PM |
19 February 2008
"Borrowing" as flattery?
Back on 15 February, in the wake of the Chuck Rosenthal resignation letter that praised the staff of the DA's office, attorney Mark Bennett crafted a particularly nice line on his blog:
Chuck closes his letter with praise for the ADAs:
I am extremely proud of the work that the ladies and gentlemen of this office do for the citizens of Harris County. They have too many cases, are under compensated, and are often unfairly criticized for the hard decisions they make in fulfilling their mandate to see that justice is done. The residents of Harris County need to appreciate the great work these folks do. As the saying goes, "If I were asked to lead a charge on Hell, I'd want these people in my ranks."
I expect those ADAs' response will be something along the lines of "gee, thanks." Until six weeks ago, they would all probably have followed Chuck on his charge into Hell; most of them now feel like, in the past five weeks, they have.
Fast forward to today's column from Lisa Falkenberg, who also seems to have appreciated Bennett's style:
That was nice of him to think of them, finally.
One might argue that, over the past six weeks, Rosenthal has indeed led a charge, not exactly on hell, but straight into hell, dragging along with him the unwilling participants within his ranks.
That's not as good as the original, but it's strikingly similar nonetheless (which may mean some Chronsters are better at the craft of "borrowing" than the Senior Plagiarist who also shares the Metro/State state pages, or the Chron business columnist who rips off old Chicago Tribune prose after it's linked on blogs).
Bennett offers Falkenberg an amusing apology for this misunderstanding on his blog.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/19/08 08:22 PM |
17 February 2008
Myth or fact: Revisiting Rosenthal's detective-as-attorney gambit
The Chronicle's resident plagiarist Rick Casey couldn't resist piling on Chuck Rosenthal in today's newspaper. In the column, he presents an interesting 1986 story about Rosenthal as fact:
I do wonder what was his first clue that his judgment was impaired.
Was it in 1986 when he sent undercover cops to pose as defense lawyers to question jail inmates about drug offenses?
The allegations from 1986 were recently reported by Mike Tolson in a Chron recap of Rosenthal's career:
In 1986, for example, his tactics as a prosecutor were questioned when he was accused of sending two undercover police officers posing as defense lawyers into the city jail to talk with a defendant there on cocaine charges. The alleged trick was an attempt to learn more about a reported kidnapping. Even Holmes questioned whether his assistant, one of two prosecutors assigned to the case, had pushed the envelope on what was appropriate.
"The question is whether there was a breach in a privileged communication between lawyer and client," Holmes said at the time. "You are on dangerous ground when you do that."
Note that Tolson reported that the matter was alleged to have happened -- even though Casey reported it in his column as fact.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/17/08 01:56 PM |
13 February 2008
Note to Chron: Houston agency is not the same as Harris County agency
Having been late to the story, the Chron's Mike Snyder has now written a follow-up to the news that the Harris County Housing Authority has taken national responsibility for most folks still displaced by Katrina.
The only problem is Snyder is still referring to the Harris County agency as a Houston agency:
Houstonians hit ground running in New Orleans
[snip]
About a dozen staff, contractors and board members of the small Houston agency traveled to New Orleans on Friday to review the enormous task confronting them. Here in the city that embodies all that went wrong after the nation's worst natural disaster, they are preparing to oversee the final chapter in a long, contentious effort to house thousands of displaced storm victims.
[snip]
Here, Rankin and his staff have duplicated procedures they created in Houston for enrolling and counseling clients, ensuring that landlords are paid on time and apartments are in decent condition.
Why the nit-picking? Because Harris County's agency worked hard (and displayed competence!) to achieve success dealing with what has turned into a long-term situation. As Snyder notes about halfway through, Houston's agency hasn't been "given" the same responsibility:
Even before the Harris County Housing Authority was assigned to the New Orleans project, it had been given a greater share of the Houston program than the much larger Houston Housing Authority, which is assisting about 2,400 families.
Would the Chronicle appreciate it if we just started calling it the Press whenever we felt like it? They are two separate agencies, and a professional journalist should be able to make that distinction.
But just to take the weirdness one step further, Snyder then gets a reaction from Houston's Mayor White, not Harris County's Judge Emmett:
Mayor Bill White, who appoints the Houston Housing Authority's board, said the county authority's decision to take on the New Orleans program and others around the country required political courage.
Yes, the Harris County agency took on the program, but the feds first had to ask the HC agency to take it! And that offer wasn't extended to Houston's Housing Authority, for reasons we can guess.
UPDATE: A reader notes that the last link, which is an audit of the Department of Housing, does not relate to the Houston Housing Authority. Apologies for the confusion. There's no confusion, however, that the Houston Housing Authority is a different entity than the Harris County Housing Authority, and the HC agency should be credited for the capable job it has done.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/13/08 04:37 AM |
11 February 2008
Former TX Supreme Court Chief Justice corrects Editorial LiveJournalists
A little over a week ago, the Chronicle Editorial LiveJournalists blasted Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jefferson Wallace for pushing through a change in the official workflow that has allegedly contributed to a backlog of cases.
Today, Wallace's predecessor writes that the Editorial LiveJournalists got it wrong (the shock!):
Ordinarily, I don't question favorable references to me in the press, such as that contained in the Jan. 31 editorial, "Backlog." But the intimation that my successor as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, Wallace Jefferson, has adopted new procedures that have slowed the court's work is so wrong that I feel compelled to set the record straight.
The court's practice of conferencing about cases on a monthly, rather than a weekly, basis originated with me, not Chief Justice Jefferson. In 1993, concerned about our court's backlog under the then-existing weekly calendar, I surveyed judicial procedures nationwide. I found that no other state conferences every week, nor does the U.S. Supreme Court. I convinced the Texas Supreme Court to adopt a practice similar to the other states, and the results were quite beneficial. Our backlog at the end of each term was cut from an average of more than 44 cases during the previous five years to less than 18 cases during the next six.
In 1999, however, the court decided, over my objection, to return to a weekly conference schedule. As I feared, the backlog slowly accumulated over the next few years. In 2004, just before I left the court, the justices adopted my motion to reinstate the monthly schedule. If that decision was wrong, you should blame me, not Jefferson.
Another criticism the editorial leveled at the court's procedures is also wrong, in my opinion. The random assignment of majority opinions does not cause any significant delay. If the assigned justice is not in the majority, the case is simply reassigned, often within days. Random assignments assure that each justice has an equal chance to author all types of cases, thus preventing the danger of various justices holding forth as "specialists" in particular areas of the law. The court has used this system for at least 60 years, perhaps longer.
The common phrase that "justice delayed is justice denied" is often true. The Texas Supreme Court produces scholarly and widely respected opinions, but it has for many years been too slow in its work. The court can surely benefit from public discussion about its procedures, but only if the public has accurate information about what it is now doing and why.
THOMAS R. PHILLIPS
retired chief justice, Supreme Court of Texas, Austin
That was certainly a thorough correction!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/11/08 09:40 PM |
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