For the most part I'm not including our TV news media here, they're not set up for that type of analysis. But when you take a look at the rest of the media landscape you're more likely to get a firm slice of political opinion from a passer-by on the street than you are one of Houston's new media outlets.
You shouldn't expect much from entertainment outlets such as CultureMap: Houston, The Houston Press or Houstonia. After all, these outlets are basically entertainment/food/fashion/lifestyle sites/publications who dabble in news from time to time. In the grand scheme of things, they're blogs with a budget.
You should expect solid political opinion from the Editorial Board of the Houston Chronicle however, as they still occasionally try to do 'news' and make comments regarding the same.
How are they doing?
Well......
Ups and Downs. The New Mrs. White, ChronBlog
1. City Council moved fast to unanimously approve the awe-inspiring master plan for Memorial Park drafted by philosopher/visionary landscape architect Thomas Woltz. It isn't going to be inexpensive and the Uptown TIRZ is opaque regarding funding. But we're ready for a land bridge and a new jogging track now.
So, it's going to cost a LOT and it's not quite clear how it's going to be funded. Plus, it's being backed by a TIRZ which (from time to time) the New Mrs. White claims to have issues with. But hey, there's a land bridge and jogging track so damn the traditional job of the media to hold government fiscally accountable and let's go forward whole-hog! What's a few Billion dollars (if you include the money they want you to spend on the Astrodome) amongst friends?
2. When you have a part-time Legislature, stupid things happen. The House of Representatives pulled an all-nighter Tuesday into Wednesday to pass its version of the budget. We shouldn't have to bring our blankie and a pillow to the Capitol to watch elected officials do business. And it is impossible for the elected ones and their staffs to do their due diligence on no sleep. Why not schedule the debate over two days?
For their next act the New Mrs. White reveal to us that they believe that the Texas Legislature is 100% there to react to their timeline. I'm sure it's tough, writing fluff material for Gray Matters and then being expected to stay up late to watch the Legislature work. This is no doubt very taxing and tough for one to swallow. We all feel for you I'm sure.
State Budget Disorder. The New Mrs. White, ChronBlog
There's nothing inherently wrong with a low tax, low services governmental philosophy as long as Texas is able to meet all of our baseline needs while balancing a budget. However, over the past several legislative sessions, our elected officials have failed to make the key investments necessary to foster a top-quality workforce and business-friendly environment. That's why Gov. Greg Abbott used his State of the State address to focus on the meat and potatoes of governance: transportation, pre-K and higher education. But the recently passed state House budget fails to adequately address these concerns.
For example, the budget contributes nothing to the Texas Tomorrow pre-paid college tuition contracts, which face a $594 million unfunded liability. That's a promise made to Texas families that politicians must keep. The budget also falls $502 million short of fully funding the Hazlewood Act, which requires Texas' public universities to provide tuition breaks for veterans and their families.
Even when they might be on track the cognitive dissonance of Mrs. White manages to get it wrong. It's impossible to take the State to task (rightly) for their underfunding of these programs if you refuse to call the City of Houston to the carpet (rightly) for their underfunding of the municipal pension programs. Sure, Mrs. White has paid lip-service to the problem over the years but she was strangely silent when former Mayor Lee P. Brown created the mess in the first place, she's been complicit in the kicking the can down the road that happened during the White administration and she seems more interested in providing political cover for friendly city politicians now.
This is not to say that the current State of Texas proposed budget doesn't have problems (it does) but one needs to show some consistency in one's criticism if you want to be taken seriously. Mrs. White is nothing on these issues if not inconsistent.
Slideshows galore. The New Mrs. White, ChronBlog.
Texas voters last spring rejected two candidates, one Democrat and one Republican, who had impressive agriculture and administrative credentials. Miller had neither, and yet he's the man who has the job. He has said that his top priorities are water and rural health care. Both issues are important. Our hope is that he'll cease with the distracting sideshows and focus on what's important for this state.
If there is one thing for which the Chron should never criticize anyone, it's for having too many distracting slideshows.
From time to time I feel it's time to repeat the call: Shutter the Ed Board Chronicle, redeploy the resources to hard news reporting. There's no opinion coming from you in-house columnists, rapidly deteriorating editorial cartoonists and joke of an editorial board that is not being more well-written by outside sources. In fact, in most cases, the "other voices" and guest editorials make much-more compelling, sensible arguments than do that generated by Chron staffers.
The New Mrs. White long lost her credibility when the infamous rail memo was accidentally leaked online. In the years since, if anything, they've regressed even further to the point now that they're just embarrassing themselves.
There are some good reporters still working at the Chronicle, it's long past time to give them the resources and staffing they need to cover Houston.
