A rather transparent endorsement
As we noted earlier, Sherry Sylvester predicted that the state's major newspapers would endorse President Bush, and then use that endorsement as cover to continue their left-of-center coverage the rest of the time.
In the case of the Chronicle, it didn't take long to get to the "rest of the time."
In the same edition that endorses President Bush, the Chronicle's staff editorialists consist of:
1) Cragg Hines, who blasts top Chronicle "bad guy" Tom DeLay (R) while penning a column that could pass as a press release from Charlie Stenholm (D), given the praise of Stenholm and criticism of opponent Randy Neugebauer (R) as an "over the top Republican robot."
2) Clay Robison, who gets in digs at DeLay and another favorite "bad guy," Governor Rick Perry (R) for their role in redistricting before moving on to the main point of a column critical of Governor Perry and the state GOP broadly for failing (so far) to deliver on the reform of the state's controversial "Robin Hood" education finance scheme.
3) Rick Casey, who is a little more subtle than Hines or Robison (who don't seem to know the meaning of the word) in a column that portrays Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal (R) and his prosecutors as uncaring lawyers who pursue the death penalty at all costs.
It's most problematic that Clay Robison serves as Austin News Bureau chief during the week, even as he engages in flamethrowing on the editorial page every Sunday. But it's also problematic that the Chronicle's other two regular opinion columnists (Casey's columns are merely op-eds running on the metro/state pages) consistently pen hard-left columns, with no regular balance from any conservative staff writer.
One endorsement for President isn't balance.
(Update) I should add that Hines' column on the editorial page is another example of editorializing on news the newspaper doesn't really cover with any depth, effectively letting the editorial serve as the news coverage. It's a peculiar practice, as we've noted before.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 10/24/04 07:50 PM | Print |
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