Houston's (mis)Leading Information Source

The local Houston Chronicle is finally getting some national recognition! No no, it's not that long desired Pulitzer; their status as the nation's largest daily never to have won that prize is still intact. Rather, Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz has noticed just how BAD the paper is. Oh sure, he tempers his piece, but make no mistake -- the paper is even worse than he describes. But still, I LOVED the first few paragraphs:

When Kenneth Lay resigned as chairman of Enron amid charges of financial chicanery, the Houston Chronicle ran this story:

"Ken Lay was an icon in Houston, a political and philanthropic force mentioned for years as a potential mayoral candidate."

And this story: "From humble roots in rural Missouri, he earned a Ph.D. in economics. . . . He is often described as a folksy man of the people who never lost sight of his origins -- or his drive to succeed."

And this story: "Overdue. Appropriate. Best for the company. Those were the thoughts of some former Enron employees on Ken Lay's resignation. . . . Respected. Upstanding. Personable."

Of course, we noted the Chron's fawning coverage the day before the headlines appeared with our own brand of sarcasm. Being a smalltime blogger instead of a bigtime media critic gives us a little more freedom over such matters, you see.

The Chron is so bad that Richard Connelly, who is quoted in the piece (and who is one of the better writers employed by any publication in this city), is able to write a regular column (The News Hostage) for the local alt-weekly devoted, in large part, to the Chron's sad style of journalism. The Houston Press, incidentally, has done some of the best reporting of any Texas publications on Enron, along with the Dallas Morning News, which made this comment somewhat surprising:

The 552,000-circulation paper has broken some Enron stories, and not all Texans are critical of it. "Of all the papers in Texas, the Chronicle has been the most aggressive on Enron," says Texas Monthly Editor Evan Smith. "Their coverage has been really good on how the city is affected."

Actually, the two best pieces I've seen on the local impact of Enron's collapse ran in the Dallas Morning News (I posted it on Reductio but the link has expired) and in the Washington Post. The Chron's coverage of the local impact has been just as depressingly poor as the rest of its coverage. I cannot imagine why Evan Smith told Kurtz that (although Texas Monthly isn't exactly the cutting edge publication IT once was these days).

In any case, it doesn't appear that elusive Pulitzer will be coming to the Chron anytime soon.

[Posted at 20:06 CST on 02/11/02] [Link]