Posted under the Orange Box News items: Weather Alerts! on the front page of Chron.com was this nugget:
Access HoustonChronicle.com/E-edition, for free. Chron.com
Apparently, the honchos over at ChronBlog have decided that opening up the pay-wall and allowing users to access their "premium content" while stuck at home during Houston's weather (non)-event will be good for sales. Ostensibly this is to allow the good citizens of Houston to keep up with breaking weather news and other stuff they might need while riding out 40 degree temperatures and moisture. And what do they get during this free preview?
News that a section of the downtown tunnels are closing during the Spring
News that the Affordable Care Act (You might know it better as ObamaCare) is creating hardships for Texas Schools.
News that the City is keeping potentially negative financial audit letters (from 2006, when Annise Parker was City Controller) hidden from the public.
News of road closures (that normally could be found, for free, elsewhere)
An AP (behind the paywall, really?) story that some states are considering a return to old-style executions
An AP story (see above) regarding NSA spying
A third AP story (unbelievable)on AA's $2 Billion dollar loss
And that's just the front page. What this means is that over half of the information ChronBlog has decided to "give away" over the next two days, on the front page, can be found elsewhere for free. Granted, you won't have access to the insight of Chron.columnists such as this and this, but you also get spared the tortured logic found here and here. As a matter of fact, keeping the Chron.columnists behind the pay-wall, and hidden from most of the public's view, might be the best advertisement FOR keeping the thing.
Unfortunately, the New Mrs. White has been released for all to see. In many cases, with some of its reporters, ChronBlog does a very good job covering local issues. In recent years, under the editorial vision of recently demoted columnist Kyrie "Memo" O'Connor, that reporting has fallen off in favor of Joey Guerra's infatuation with side boob, a host of useless, buggy pictorials, worthless lifestyle stories and the sometimes confusing rantings of Jeff Cohen's group of sub-par wunderkind columnists. Rumors are ChronBlog is going to renew its focus on local news stories, leaving the fluff to organizations such as CultureMap: Houston.
This seems like a good move but, we have to plead, please leave the columns behind the paywall, and consider moving The New Mrs. White there, for the sanity of us all.
