I Can't Help Myself...

I said something nice about the Chron (below). Now things can get back to normal.

This little bit of opinionated gossip by the Chron's city hall reporter seems ill-advised:

Dream on, Mr. Berry ...

City Councilman Michael Berry, who looks even younger than his 31 years, astonished his colleagues at City Hall this week by announcing only six months into his first term that he would run for mayor next year.

No one used the word "whippersnapper," but it hovered unspoken in conversations this week.

Berry described his aspirations as "crazy" and asked a reporter if she thought the idea was "laughable."

Although the reporter declined to answer, Mayor Lee Brown showed no such reticence,

Asked about Berry's bid at a news conference this week, Brown -- who is barred by term limits from seeking re-election -- took a moment to giggle.

"We live in a great country," he replied, to laughter from his senior advisers and reporters. "We all have the opportunity to pursue our dream."

Rachel Graves,

City Hall reporter

Shouldn't Miss Graves, as a REPORTER, stick to REPORTING the actual hard news that emanates from City Hall (and under Lee Brown, there's been plenty), and leave cheesy, gossipy stuff like this to editorial columnists? Or snarky bloggers?

Actually, this sort of crap is better suited to that potted-plant of a journalist Thom Marshall. Ironically, I see that he's tried to write a hard-news column today, with typically sad results. And I can't blame Marshall for the headline, but it's typical of the paper; the article is on the SimHouston program, yet the headline refers to the SLIMHOUSTON. Sad. Funny. Tragic comedy at its (unintended) best!

That's our Chron, a truly terrible paper, as others are beginning to notice.

[Posted at 01:08 CST on 07/13/02] [Link]